Brotherly Bonds
by miji-chan
Summary: UPDATED! Yuki and Ayame visit a psychiatrist in order to get help with their relationship, but only after Tohru suggests it of course. But no one had expected the aftermath of such a simple decision...
1. Torture session 1 pt 1

Welcome to my new story: Please enjoy! (more comments at the end)

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(Ayame, Hatori, Yuki, Tohru and Shigure pop in)

Yuki: Um, what are we doing here?

Miji-chan: Huh? Oh, I was getting lonely so I decided to talk to you guys

Shigure: Oh Miji-chan, thank you so much! (takes my hands and begins to waltz around the room grinning happily)

Hatori: (wacks Shigure with a rolled newspaper that suddenly appears in his hands) Stop it you idiot. You're making yourself look worse then you already are

Shigure: (rubs head while mock crying) Hari, I believe that that was totally unnecessary! How could you do that to me, me, your only, best friend!

Ayame: (rushes over to Shigure) don't worry Gure! I, your glowing jewel, will always be here for you!

Shigure: I knew I could always count on you Aya, my right hand!

Hatori: (quietly as not to upset Miji-chan) Who was the idiot who came up with this idea?

Yuki: (sighs and rests his chin on his palm) could you two act any gayer?

Ayame: (rushes over to Yuki) don't worry my dear brother! I am always at your side (grins manically (is that even a word, or did I just make it up?)) Even more so now that Miji-chan has done us the honor of writing a story in which we will always be together!

Miji-chan: Well… (bites lip)

Hatori: I can't believe you're doing this

Miji-chan: Hey! It was just an idea! Keep that pessimistic behavior up and I'll ask you to leave

Hatori: I don't believe you

Miji-chan: Well I'm the author and I'll do what I want!

Hatori: (smugly) Is that so?

Miji-chan: Yes it is! (I take a pad of paper out of my pocket and flip it open, while a pen appears in my hand, ((one more perk of being an author)) and write) Hatori… disappears…from the…story… (Hatori disappears)

Tohru: Did you really make him disappear?

Miji-chan: well, no, not exactly…

(Hatori's voice is heard close by, but muffled)

Hatori: Miji-chan let me out of here

Miji-chan: NO

Shigure: Aya, there-there's a ghost in the closet!

(Shigure and Ayame hug each other, shivering)

Hatori: Miji-chan… now

Miji-chan: No, I said no and I meant no. At least not until you apologize to me!

Hatori: (sighs)

(Miji-chan suddenly hears a loud, high-pitched buzzing in her ears)

Miji-chan: (clamps her hands over her ears) HATORI STOP IT!

Hatori: (silence)

(buzzing continues)

Miji-chan: All right! Fine, just stop it! (buzzing stops) (takes out notepad and quickly writes) Hatori…reappears

Hatori: (reappears next to Miji-chan and adjusts his coat) Thank you

Miji-chan: (grumbles)

Ayame: Well, now that that's over… the spotlight can once again be on me! Yuki! From this day on, we will restrengthen our brotherly bond! This story is just the beginning!

Yuki: Agh! (runs away from Ayame with him running and shouting endlessly behind him)

(Hatori, Tohru, and Shigure stares blankly after them)

Momiji: And after this short, but interesting delay, here is the story! Please enjoy

Kisa: And remember, sissy does not own Fruits Basket, although she really wishes she did because she loves us all very very much

Tohru: (runs over to Kisa and hugs her tightly) you're so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

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(Normal POV)_

Yuki hung his head into his hands, blocking out his brothers endless chattering. He had been going on for the past ten minutes, ever since they had walked into this dreadful place.

The bright posters with enthusiastic themes, ever-bubbling water fountains, and colorful flowers everywhere, made the place overly too cheerful. That, along with his brothers endless chattering was becoming very overwhelming to Yuki.

Actually, he thought look back, he probably wouldn't be here except for Tohru who had been the one to come up with the whole idea of him and his brother going to get counseling. Certainly, if another member of his family had mentioned it, he would have beaten them up, but since it had been Tohru, he had easily given in, without a fight.

"Yuki? Yuki, are you listening to me? Come on my brother, I know that you could never ignore my heartwarming speeches!" Ayame declared loudly, placing a hand on his brothers' shoulder.

Yuki turned away, chin resting on his hand, "Just watch me," he muttered.

Ayame either ignored or didn't hear him because he continued, announcing loudly, "Remember Yuki, we are here to savor and strengthen our brotherly bond! Not only on behalf of our dear Tohru, but also on our bond as family."

"Just once I'd like to hang you from the roof." Yuki thought sighing. His brother had always been like this, but no matter how much he was around Ayame, he couldn't get used to it, ever.

His brother's rambling was thankfully cut short, by a women's voice saying, "Excuse me, are you two the Sohma brothers?"

Yuki glanced over at his brother who had gotten up out of his chair and was now prancing around the woman. "Unfortunately, yes. Would you be Miss Dalton?"

The woman nodded, watching Ayame out of the corner of her eye. "Yes I am. You are Yuki Sohma?" When Yuki nodded she pointed at Aya, "Then he is your older brother?"

Ayame stopped to stand next to her and grasped one of her hands. "You called mon amour?"

She tried to get her hand free. "No, not exactly. We should start the session now." She managed to get her hand free and then sat down heavily in the chair opposite the two brothers.

_

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(Mrs. Dalton's POV)_

I sat down in my chair, relieved to have gotten away from the older Sohma. How could anyone stand to be in the same room with him? Jeez was he handsome though, those golden eyes, and pure white hair? I absently wondered if he had a girlfriend. Yuki was also handsome; the family relationship between the two was clearly visible. Those purple eyes, even though she had never heard of anyone having purple eyes, maybe it was a Japan thing, mixed with his silver grey hair made him look like a prince out of a fairy tale.

Looking over at the two, I noticed that Ayame was still talking, not noticing that neither one of the other two people in the room were listening. Yuki, on the other hand, was trying to look not too annoyed, and failing. He seemed like he was used to his brothers odd personality.

"Well then, why don't we start?" I suggested, breaking off Ayame's chattering, who sat up in his chair and began to smile at me disarmingly, I shivered. "My name is Christine Dalton, and I'll be your counselor for as long as you decide to keep coming." I smiled, which caused Ayame to grin at me wickedly, but Yuki just gave me a distant look and then his eyes flicked away again. I decided to start with him, since he looked like he was lonely, plus I would do anything to stop Ayame from talking again, I was already starting to get a headache.

"Yuki?" He turned towards me and didn't look away, well, that was an improvement. "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself." When he looked surprised I quickly added, "This is a kind of 'getting-to-know-you' session."

He nodded. "Well, my name's Yuki Sohma, I'm 16 years old, I go to Furiban High School. Currently I'm living with two cousins, and a girl from school. He sighed and leaned back. "I can't think of anything else."

While he had been talking, I had written down what he had said on a notepad I kept handy. I looked over my notes and asked, "What are the names of the people you're living with."

Yuki looked surprised and then, with a glance at his brother, answered. "Shigure Sohma, Kyo Sohma and, Miss Tohru Honda."

I noticed curiously that while he had said the first two names with a tone of disgust, but Yuki's voice had gotten quieter and had almost said the girl's name, dare I say it, lovingly. I looked at him and then wrote down what I had observed on my notepad.

"So this Tohru Honda is not related to you?"

Yuki shook his head and said quietly, "No, Miss Honda is more of a family friend."

"Ah." I commented intelligently and jotted that down too. Then, filled with a sudden dread, I turned to Ayame who had been no doubtly watching me, and I said in a controlled tone, "All right Ayame, your turn to tell me a little about yourself."

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Well, here's my new fic, I hope you all enjoy it! It's an idea I got after reading Yanikei's Split Personality, its really good! Read it if you haven't! Um, also, I'd be really really happy if you would read and review, this was kinda just on a whim, and, to put it bluntly, I have no idea where its going, so ideas or review would be helpful. Sry if it's a little long, but I couldn't think of any way to shorten it. And, sry to keep adding on, i apologize if I got the name of the school wrong, but I couldn't remember what it was, and the counselor's name might change, not sure.

Oh, 'nother thing too, I added the intro at the beginning just for fun, because I read stories with it at the beginning, and thought it would be fun to add. If you liked it, I'm glad and if you didn't, im sorry.

Well, that's all. I'm going to bed. Please read and review!


	2. Torture session 1 pt 2

Ch 2: Torture session 1 (cont)

Hi everyone! Please enjoy the second chapter! If your wondering why there isnt an intro thingy like last time, I was a) too bored/tired to put it in or b) am having writers block and therefore could not come up with anything to write about. So sit back and relax, and read, then review!

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Samantha braced herself as Ayame drew breath to respond to her question. Please don't let him go on and on, please, I don't need a bigger headache, she prayed silently, as Ayame blinked at her. 

"Um, Miss Dalton. My brother's name is pronounced A-ya-me. Not, A-yam-e." Yuki corrected her, which cause Sam to blink at him blankly. "Excuse me?"

Yuki leaned forward towards her, and said, rewarding her a small smile, "I don't mean to be rude, but my brothers name is A-ya-me. You pronounced it A-yam-e." As I stared at him open-mouthed, he added, "Don't worry, it's a small mistake."

"Well, alright. Thank you. So, A-ya-me, is that right, why don't you tell me a little about yourself." She finished, settling back in her chair, exhausted after so much work.

"Thank you my dearest counselor, I knew you would work it out in the end. Don't worry, if you find yourself going through hard times, just call and I will always be at your side, you have no need to worry at all!" Ayame began dramatically and then halfway through his speech he stood up and began wandering around the room, still talking.

Samantha looked over at Yuki, who was watching his brother with a detached expression on his face. "Does he ever stop talking?"

Yuki looked over at her and said bemusedly, "No, not very often. Hatori's the only one who can shut him up." At her confused expression he added, "A cousin of ours."

"Okay, well, will someone tell me about A-ya-me?" Samantha asked hopelessly.

"He's 5' 9,'' has white hair, golden eyes, whose color is debatable and is 26 years old, although he mostly acts like a teenager. He owns a shop that sells costumes and outfits, with an assistant name Mine, and overall is very enthusiastic, cheerful, over-dramatic, loud and egotistical." A monotonous, dry voice informed her from near the door.

Yuki and Mrs. Dalton looked over at the door to see a man, a little taller then Ayame standing there. He had black hair, that was long for a man, the front combed over his left eye, while his right eye, a jade color, was following Ayame around the room. He also wore a white lab coat over a brown sweater vest and dark brown pants.

Yuki looked up at him in surprise and quickly stood up. "Hatori! What are you doing here?"

Mrs. Dalton turned around in her chair to look at him, he raised an eyebrow at her, but instead of speaking again he walked over to Ayame and thwacked him over the head with handy book from a nearby bookshelf.

"Ayame, stop making a fool of yourself. Come over to the chair, and sit." He emphasized the last word, pointing at Ayame's vacant chair, still keeping the book handy.

But Ayame didn't take the hint and instead launched himself at the other man. "Hari! Oh Hari, how sweet of you, I knew you couldn't stay away from me for too long!"

Hatori raised the book so it was at Aya's eye level. "Ayame, what did I say about talking so much?" He warned Aya, looking him in the eye.

Aya hung his head and said quietly, "Not to."

"And what did I tell you to do."

"To sit down in my chair and be quiet." Aya said, making his way over to the chair and sitting back down with Hatori following him, surprisingly during the whole process, he didn't say a word, to Samantha's relief.

Mrs. Dalton sated at Aya, who was now quietly sitting in his chair and Hatori, who was leaning on the back of Aya's chair, quietly talking to him.

Samantha looked over at Yuki, who was acting like this entire thing was normal, well maybe for them it was, but definitely not for her, or anyone else she know. She asked him, "Is your whole family like this?"

Yuki nodded, "Most of them, but my brother and his other friend are the worst."

But before he could continue, there was a sudden burst of loud shouting coming from the hall outside the room.

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Oooo, bet you cant guess who it is! 

Yuki: wanna bet that they can?

Miji-chan: Be quiet you! hits Yuki (lightly) with her notebook

Kyo: Ha ha!

Yuki: quiet ya stupid cat

Miji-chan: Be quiet you two im trying to speak! (ahem) Hope you enjoyed, please review!

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Thanks to my reviews for the first chapter (three reviews for one chapter! that makes me sooo happy!) 

cheshirejin: Im glad you like it! Yeah, im kinda feeling sorry for her too...

Monk of the Neko: thnx for the compliments and tune in next time!

Winter's Light: Me too! now if they would just get along...

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And if you didnt review, please do so! any kind is welcome! 

cya later and sayonara!


	3. Chaos arrives

Welcome once again to brotherly bonds. The story where we follow the continuing relationship between Ayame and Yuki. And, if your wondering why this chapter, or at least the begining of it is a little different, its because we're reading 'The Scarlet Letter' in english, enough said. If you've ever read it, you know what I'm talking about.

And, since I skipped last chapter, here's another act in 'The chapter theater' (if you want a better name, come up with it yourself please, im not feeling very creative) btw, this'll be short

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Yuki: I can't believe your doing this to me 

Miji-chan: sry, but i thought it was funny

Yuki: sure, funny

Ayame: don't worry brother, that doesnt matter, I still love you!

Yuki: great

Tohru: thats so sweet!

Yuki: uh huh

Hatori: You know, you should act happier

Yuki: woo hoo

Shigure: exactly Yuki, be happy! Like me, I'm always happy!

Kyo: That's the problem you stupid dog, you shouldn't be so happy

Shigure: Oh, sounds like Kyo's jealous

Kyo: shut up you stupid dog!

(Kyo chases Shigure around the house, wrecking it horribly)

Miji-chan: Well, thats all for now! See you later, hope you enjoy, and please review!

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They all grew quiet and looked apprehensively towards the door. The shouting continued, growing louder by the minute. None of them spoke or made any action until Aya sprang from his chair and began quickly moving towards the door, before Hatori leapt after him and took hold of him before he came to the door.

"You idiot, keep a hold of yourself. What happens if you transform out there? Or if he does?" Hatori confronted Aya, who was still watching the door, but listening to what his cousin said as well.

"But Hari, he's our friend! We have to help him. It doesn't matter if he, or we transform, you can always erase their memories, please Hari." Aya tried to get Hatori to let go of him, so he could go out into the hall. There was no reason for their disagreement however because by the time Aya finished, the shouting from the hall had stopped, and there was complete silence from the hall.

Again, no one said anything, but if looks were words, then the opposite would be true. Yuki had his chin in his hand, glancing once in awhile towards the door, with mixed emotions. Ayame was standing in the same place, for once being quiet, looking worriedly towards the door, clearly wanting to see what was happening and the reason for the sudden silence. He was also glancing back towards Yuki and Mrs. Dalton. Hatori was watching Ayame, and the door at the same time. Mrs. Dalton was looking between the three Sohma's, clearly very confused.

There was a few moments of silence, inside the room and from out in the hall. All of them waited anxiously to see what had happened.

Then, after a few minutes, a large black dog bounded through the half open door, ran up to Hatori and Ayame, placing its front paws on their arms, barking.

Mrs. Dalton stared at the dog, and then at Aya, Hatori and Yuki who were staring terrified at the dog. 'Umm, where did that dog come from?" They turned to look at her, and stood there, trying to think of a convincing answer, until the dog walked over to her and began licking her face, distracting her and making her laugh.

Hatori tsked lightly and told the dog, "Shigure, come here. Stop bothering Mrs. Dalton." The dog stopped its licking and turned to Hatori, slightly wagging its tail and panting. "Come on, good boy. Come here you goody good dog." Aya chimed in, beckoning the dog, kneeling.

The dog sneezed, which sounded somewhat like an 'hmph!' and got off Mrs. Dalton and walked over to Aya, stopping in front of him and giving a single, loud 'woof!'

Aya laughed in delight and wrapped his arms around the dog that began barking again and loudly thumping his tail against the floor. Hatori sighed and sat back on his heels. "Of course he comes to you." He commented, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well of course Hari, what would you expect, since we are, of course, the best of friends. I myself would expect nothing less. However, not to worry Hari, I am still on your side. I will never desert you; you have no need to worry!" Ayame announced, trying to make Hatori feel better, although he just laughed sarcastically at it.

The dog obviously felt bad as well and went over to Hatori, trying to lick his face, which Hari tried to stop, though it didn't help. Then, after it was able to give Hatori a few licks, the dog sat back in front of Hari, whining and giving him a pitying look.

"There's no need for that, I wasn't being serious. Anyways, we should leave, we've taken up enough of Mrs. Dalton's time." Hatori said, helping Aya to his feet, and then walking out of the room with Aya talking again, and the large black dog at their heels, wagging its tail furiously.

Yuki slowly got up from his chair, and walked up to Mrs. Dalton, who was reclining in her chair looking around her room dazedly, as if she couldn't believe anything that had happened in the past forty-five minutes. "Mrs. Dalton, I'm sorry, but it seems as if I have to leave. I'm sorry if we've harmed you at all. We'll see you during the next session," as he saw Mrs. Dalton's alarmed expression, he amended, "my brother and I, I mean. See you later." He said, as he left after Hatori, Ayame and the dog, closing the door behind him, leaving Mrs. Dalton in her office by herself, still sitting in her chair, looking very dazed. She was thinking to herself, "Why did I ever get involved with the Sohma's?"

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Thanks for reading! Please review as well! More coming soon!

Oh, and sry for any spelling errors, its christmas break, so I didn't really feel up to it, sry!

Thanks to Winter's Light for reviewing AGAIN! I'm glad you like it! And yep, you were right! I would give you some cookies, but we haven't made any yet, sry! You'll have to wait for the next chap, but not too long, dont worry! And thanks for the compliments, those are always welcome!

See you next time! Read and review! Follow Winter's Light example please!


	4. The long drive home

**Brotherly Bonds**

Welcome back to the continuing drama of living with the Sohma's! Although this isnt really about then, but w/e

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sohma, or charecter in or of FB, though I do own Mrs Dalton, so HA!

Yeah, sry bout that, but stop reading this, and read the story! Ta ta!

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Out in the parking lot, Hatori unlocked his car and opened the back door for Ayame and the dog to jump in, which they did, then he got into the drivers seat, Yuki into the passenger seat, and began to drive back to the Sohma estate.

Well, more like _trying_ to drive. Ayame and the dog were distracting him a little, okay, _a lot_.

The dog had been bounding around in the backseat, jumping over Aya and looking out the windows, and currently laying up on the platform behind the seat, almost never sitting still. Oh, and did I mention dog hair?

Aya, on the other hand, was protesting about getting dog hair on his beautiful handmade clothes, getting his lovely, silver, long hair tangled, and having to sit in the back seat where no one could see his beautiful person.

And just when Hatori was about to yell at the two of them, Yuki by the way, was just sitting quietly in his seat and gazing out the window, there was a 'poof-y' sound along with a cloud of blue smoke, and the dog was replaced with a man with black hair and eyes, who was wearing a playful expression, but was, of course, naked.

"Hari, your not mad at me are you?" The man-dog asked, giving Hatori world-record puppy eyes.

Hatori sighed, "Of course not Shigure, but put some clothes on would you? Aya, give him your coat." Through all of this, he had somehow managed to keep driving safely.

"Hari! You know that I get colder faster without my coat!" Aya exclaimed loudly, almost deafly, clinging to his coat.

"Most people do Aya, and anyways, its summer so you won't transform, now give him your coat." Hatori replied, beginning to get annoyed.

Aya grumbled something, but handed his coat over to Shigure who wrapped it around himself, and then leaned over towards Aya, putting his head on his friends shoulder and giving him puppy eyes. "Aya, please don't be mad at me, please forgive me. I'm sorry."

Aya tried to keep a straight face, but it turned out that he wasn't able to, since he laughed and hugged Shigure tightly. "Of course not 'Gure, I am always ready to share my belongings with a friend! You have no need to worry."

Shigure moved closer to Aya and hugged him back as he laughed, exclaiming, "I knew no one could stand up to my puppy eyes!"

"Friends?" Shigure asked, holding out his hand.

"Friends!" Aya agreed, shaking Shigure's hand very enthusiastically.

In the front seat Yuki turned from his window-gazing and asked Hatori, "How do you ever put up with them?"

Hatori shook his head, "I have no idea." He pulled into the main house and parked in a driveway by his house. "All right, everyone out." After everyone had gotten out of the car and he had locked it, Hatori added, "And Shigure, you better not have left any dog hair on the seat."

Shigure looked pityingly at Hatori. "Hari! I'm not that kind of dog! I don't shed, at all!"

"Yes Hari, you go ahead and check the back seat, I bet you won't find one piece of dog hair on your seat, just you look!" Aya protested, waving his hand around while he had an arm around Shigure as well.

"Exactly Hari. You have no right to talk to me like that, you know I would never do anything like that, ruin your property I mean. Never ever ever never."

"All right you two, that's enough. I didn't mean anything by that, you don't have to get so riled up." Hatori chided them, looking around for something that he could thwack them with, but nothing appeared usable.

"Yuki?" Aya asked, unwinding his arm from Shigure's shoulders and walked over to his brother, wrapping his arms around Yuki's neck and hanging his head over his brother's shoulder. "I enjoyed being with you today, even if I'm not sure you did. But let the past be past."

"And now, my dear brother, you should get back to your sweet dear Tohru, I'm sure she is dying, no not literally Yuki, to hear what happened today. So, now run along. You too Gure! Run, run." Aya made shooing movements with his hand at Shigure and Yuki.

The two exchanged looks, said quick goodbyes to Hatori and Ayame, and walked out of the main estate and quickly back to Shigures house.

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Well, wasnt that fun! And ive got good news for you: I have three more chapters written in my notebook, so all i have to do is type them up on my computer, enter and edit them on this website, and then post. Although now that i think of it that sounds like a lot of work, but im up for it. 

I also have more good news: I got an ipod for christmas! and im no bragging, but im just really happy

And since i didn't get to say this before, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, may your new year be filled with hope and joy! (im sry that this is kinda late, sry!)

Now for my reviewers, **thank you very much**!

Tuki: (sry for the nickname) Im glad you like, enjoy andfind my story funny. And as for why Shigure transformed, which i bet all of you were wondering about, and sry for that, I will explain in one of the next chapters, but your going to have to wait! )

Dolphindreamer: Thnx for complimenting me! It makes me so happy. Actually, I got the idea from Yanikei's fanfic, 'Split Personality' which, if you havent read it, you SHOULD, it is AMAZING! and shes writting a sequel, called 'Anger Management' which i also recommend. In addition, sry that my chaps are so short, im trying to make them longer, youll have to tell me what you think, though im sorry this one is so short, but my next one is long and if i put them together theyd be WAY too long. I also tried to make Aya a little serious in this chap, though hes much more in the chapter two more from now, so youll have to stay tuned! and tell me what you think

To you both: thanks for reviewing --------- and for those who didn't but DID read this, PLEASE REVIEW, you will make me vry vry vry happy! Nxt chapter will be long, and have a flashback, well sorta, but youll have to wait to find out more, but not vry long i hope! and i also hope to have another 'Chapter Theater' or w/e i decided to call it, i cant remember...

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	5. Home again home again

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 5

Hey everyone, howdy! I thought that I would be nice, though I always am, and update again. I know, two days in a row, i know that your astonished, amazed and over whelmed by my determination and kindness! (guess what zodiac animal I am! HAHA!)

Anyway, thnx for coming back, please read and review, and more at the end, cya there!

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"Ms Honda, we're back. Miss Honda?" Yuki called as he took his shoes off and walked into the living room. Shigure on the other hand, just marched straight into the living room, without taking his shoes off, but its his house so who really cares. 

Kyo stomped down the stairs just as Yuki was beginning to walk into the living room. They exchanged glares and Kyo exclaimed, "Damn it, why are you home so dang early. You're supposed to be gone for another half hour!"

Yuki sighed, "Stupid cat, didn't you hear me say that the session is only forty-five minutes? And besides, there was an 'incident' so we had to leave early."

"What kind of incident?" Tohru's voice asked from behind them. They both turned to where she was standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Hello Miss Honda." Yuki said, showing a genuine smile. "It was nothing really. I just think we upset out counselor a little."

Tohru began to look worried. "Does that mean you won't be going back? I know it was stupid of me to have suggested the whole thing, but I thought it would help."

"Don't worry Miss Honda, it was nothing that you did. It was my brothers and then cousins fault. If they hadn't shown up."

Now Tohru looked puzzled instead of worried. "But the session was just for you and Ayame, your cousins weren't there, were they?"

Yuki sighed and rubbed his head, "Unfortunately yes, they showed up halfway through our session." He looked around, "if you want to sit down, I'll explain everything to you."

Tohru nodded, explaining as she sat down on the cushions in the living room, "all right, but I have to get dinner started soon. I don't want you to starve or anything."

"Thank you Miss Honda." They both sat down around the table, and there was silence as Yuki tried to decided where to start in the story of the torture session he had had to endure earlier that day.

(insert long, boring, stupid, worthless, pointless, and time consuming flashback here (more at the end on this certain subject))

He (Yuki) stopped as Tohru got up from her cushion, "Miss Honda?"

Tohru looked startled and jumped about a foot in the air (not really). "Oh! I'm sorry Yuki but its getting late and I should be starting dinner. We can continue after dinner, since you didn't finish."

Yuki smiled at her. "Of course Miss Honda. I'm sorry to have kept you." He stood up and walked away down the hall.

Tohru watched him walk away and then went into the kitchen to begin dinner, whatever she was going to make, that is.

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okay, well hope you enjoyed it! i know it was kinda pointless, but i wrote it mainly for the flashback, and when i didnt add it, the chap became way shorter and well, more pointless, but anyways: please read and review! 

btw, what i meant about the flashback was, that I thought it was pointless to add, since we had already gone over it in earlier chaps, but if you want me to add it back in, i will. basically its just what happened, from Yuki's pov.

now on to my reviews: EIGHT reviews, you do not know how happy youve nade me! Now lets try for ten, hmm? annnnnnnnnnnnnd I got another review for Chaos levels! woope!

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kay, heres my thnx: 

Tuki: All right, ill try my best, but pleassssssssssssssse dont be mad at me! (big puppy eyes) FOOD FOOD FOOD! I luv food, more more! I promise ill update again soon, see, i kept my promise wiht this chapter dint I? I'm glad u liked it. And, bout the dog hair, it was kinda just a sudden idea, so i dint develop it a whole lot, but thnx anyway!

Dophindreamer: Yep I did, and theres lots more coming soon! that is weird though, but im glad u did. im also glad that your glad, i like aya too, and im also a snake, believe it or not, although one of my friends acts a lot more like aya then i do, but w/e. ill also try and include more tohru like u ask, although she might be a little ooc, im not vry good at her char yet. and dont worry: im typing, im TYPING! oh, thnx too for reviewing my other fic, i preciate it.

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For the next chap, its split into two parts, it was way too long in other words, but ill try and post them close to each other, so u have somewhat of an idea of whats going on., how many times did i use 'what' in that sentence? Heh, my eng teacher wouldnt be happy!

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Anyway, as usual please read and review! C u next time!

Btw, ill try and updat my other fics too, ive just been working on this one mostly! THNX!


	6. Memories pt 1

Ch 6 pt 1

Sry, but this chaps split in two, its way too long otherwise. So, please read and review, ill see you at the end of the yellow brick road!

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Yuki and Tohru were seated down around the table, calmly eating their dinner. (Calmly, well isn't that a first?) Shigure, on the other hand, was slurping down his noodles and miso soup, yes with chopsticks, but still, just like a dog.

"Umm Shigure?" Tohru asked and Shigure looked up at her over the top of his noodle bowl. "Mmm?" He asked with a mouthful of noodles.

"Well, you see, Yuki was telling me about what happened earlier at his and Ayame's counseling session. And, he said that you and Hatori showed up there, but you transformed in the hall." Tohru drifted off as Shigure set down the now empty bowl on the table and leaned back against the wall."

"Ah yes, my day of adventure. Well, I was bored because no one was here, and I already had finished my manuscript, although don't tell Mii that, so I went over to the main house. Aya was gone so I decided to visit Hari. For once he wasn't working, imagine that, can you see Hari doing anything else? Anyway, he wasn't working, so I suggested that we should go visit Yuki and Aya at their session."

"At first Hari didn't want to, but after a little convincing on my part, he agreed to come with me, although I would have gone by myself anyways. Hari drove to the building, he wouldn't let me drive, said he didn't trust me with his car, and then we went up to your room, and most unfairly Hari got there more quickly then I did."

Shigure began to go on after taking a deep breath but Yuki interrupted by saying, "You haven't answered Miss Honda's question yet."

"Don't get impatient Yuki, I'm getting there, you just have to listen more closely. So when I came to the floor that your room was on, that was a lot of stairs to walk up by the way, I discovered that Hari was already in there. I started walking towards the room, when the receptionist came out from behind her desk and tried to stop me. I told her that I was just there to visit my cousins Ayame and Yuki Sohma. But she continued to block me and then when I tried again she called for some of the other counselors, who weren't working of course, to come and help her. Unfortunately, although not really, they were all women, and after we struggled for awhile, one of them came too close, and I transformed, even though I didn't really mind. Before they could react I grabbed my clothes, and ran into your room."

Shigure sighed and shrugged a little. "After that, I suppose you know what happened." He laughed happily, "that was the most fun I've had in ages."

Yuki glared at him. "Do you realize that your 'fun' might result in Hatori having to erase our counselor, and all of those other women's memories?"

Shigure flapped a hand at his cousin. "Relax Yuki, don't be so sensitive and worrying. If you keep this up, you'll end up exactly like Hari, and not carefree like Aya and me."

"Carefree, perverted and childlike actually." Yuki corrected quietly.

Shigure gasped theatrically, "Yuki! I'm hurt!"

Kyo came into the room and slumped down into the empty place at the table. "What are you idiots talking about?" He began eating the noodles, all the while avoiding the soup, eyeing it distastefully.

"Helloooooo!" Anyone home?" came a voice outside the door, causing Yuki and Kyo to groan loudly, and Shigure to call, "Aya! In the living room!"

A few seconds later Aya was in the room, sitting between Tohru and Yuki, eating their left over noodles. A very tired looking Hatori followed him in and stood leaning against the doorway. Finally he said, "You deal with him for a while. I'm going to go have some coffee. If he starts to annoy you too much, either thwack him on the head or threaten him." With that he left the room and walked away into the kitchen.

The four original house occupants stared at each other, 'what was going on?'

Kyo suddenly stood up. "I'm going to my room, wake me when this nightmare is over." And he walked away and could soon be heard stomping up the stairs, along with his door being slammed shut.

Amidst the silence that came after Kyo's exit, Ayame set his bowl down and placed a hand on the table complimenting Tohru. "Tohru my dear that was absolutely delicious, my sincere compliments to the chef, you are absolutely amazing. Now I wonder if you might go to the trouble of bringing me some tea." He waved his hands and added, "Not that horrible American coffee that Hari drinks of course, that stuff is utterly revolting." With that comment he made an entirely comical face, which started Shigure off laughing and Aya pretending to be upset.

Into this din Yuki complained, "Brother, you have no right to talk to her like that, she's not your maid. You can perfectly well get it yourself."

Aya assured him. "Yes of course Yuki. Tohru, I am awfully sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Yes, yes of course!" You really have no need to apologize." Tohru told him, getting upset.

"It's alright Tohru. Anything to make my little brother happy." Aya stood up and dangled his arms around his brothers' neck. "Right Yuki?"

Yuki mumbled something inaudible which caused Tohru to say, "I think I had better go help Hatori." And excused herself to the kitchen as Yuki turned and said, "Miss Honda, there's really no need for you to…" but by that time she was already gone. He sighed.

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Allright, thats part one to this chapter, ill try and post the second half soon. its just ive been sick so far this week and last weekend, and im having trouble typing, so thats also my excuse for the spelling errors, and why it took me so long. and sry, i just realized that this chap is also sorta long, so sry bout that, and anything else i did wrong: IM SO SORRY! (jk)

so, please review, i would love to hear from you, and btw im thinking about having Mrs Dalton (Samantha) date one of the trio, but i havent decided which one, so id love your input on that too. I hope you like this chapter, so the last one was a little blah.

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to my wonderful reviewers:

Tuki: FOOD FOOD FOOD! yeah, i know and i apologize, but im not breaking into hysterics like Ritsu, sry ill spare you. im glad you liked it though

Dolphindreamer: yep i did, happy b-day. and yes, theres a story behind this, although it might not seem likt it at the moment. Thats okay, i get hyper too, my friends say i make my own sugar, i dont know if thats true. Yeah, see, more Tohru, and more of her coming up as well. I will try to update soon, and right back at ya!

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About updating, I have until ch 9 written up, but not typed, although ch 8 is split into two as well. and i am planing romance, and morecute little brother moments between Aya and Yuki. So, anyway, sry im kinda getting off track, ill try and update soon, and look for my other story chaos levels being updated to, i have that written out to ch 8, so keep your eyes open! So long! 


	7. Memories pt 2

**Ch. 6 Pt 2**

Heloooo again everyone! How have ya been? Well, I won't keep you, and sry that this is kinda short, but I promise the next few will be longer! See u at the end!

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"Isn't that cute, you still call her Miss Honda." Ayame commented from Yuki's shoulder. "I would think by this time that you would be able to call her by her first name."

Yuki shook his head. "I, I can't. Not until I tell her about, that day."

Aya and Shigure exchanged confused looks. "What day are you talking about Yuki?" Shigure asked.

"It was when I was younger, maybe about nine or ten. I wasn't able to sleep, it was early morning, so I put on a sweater, shorts, sneakers and a cap, and I snuck out of the Sohma estate. I was walking around the streets when I heard a women yelling hysterically. I went there and watched from around the corner. There was a lady standing in front of a small apartment surrounded by a couple of policemen who were trying to calm her down. When she finally calmed down a little the police asked her what her daughter looked like."

Shigure interrupted, "You mean you met Tohru before you started at your high school?"

Yuki glanced over at him, but continued instead of answering. "The women answered through her tears, 'I told you, she's a cute little girl with cute clothes, a cute face and cute little hair bobbles!' I remembered seeing a little girl my age with hair bobbles crying in an alleyway a little way back. I ran back that way and almost missed her, I was afraid I had gone too far. But I finally found her and stared at her for awhile. Then I started to run back to where the women and police were when I noticed her following me. I let her follow me back to where her mother was, and never let her see my face, and then gave her my cap before running back to the estate."

Yuki smiled at the memory. "I only stayed long enough to watch them laugh and cry together. Together." He paused and tilted his head a little to one side. "I found myself wishing that my parents were like that. That they would hold me in their arms and we would laugh and cry together. But, my parents would never do that."

He paused a little and smiled. "A while ago, when I found out that she had kept the hat, and still remembered that day, that day when I was needed by someone, I was overjoyed, it made me happy. I almost told her that it had been me, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to tell her, I chickened out."

There was a long silence before Shigure commented, "Yuki, that was lovely, your almost fit to be a novelist!" and pretended to wipe tears from his eyes.

"When I was younger I wished that too, that even once my parents would hold me, and be happy to have me as their on. Of course I didn't have it as bad as you did, but I still wished." Aya said, tightening his embrace of Yuki, and meaning his head against his brothers. For once, Yuki didn't pull away.

After a while, when neither Yuki or Aya had moved, Tohru and Hatori came back into the room, Hatori carrying a mug of coffee and Tohru one that smelled like some kind of awful smelling herbs.

When they came in Shigure put a finger to his lips, gestured for them to sit by him and then pointed at the now sleeping Yuki and Aya.

Tohru 'oohhhh'-ed softly and quietly got up and put a blanket over the brothers. Hatori raised his eyebrows and sipped his coffee. They tiptoed out of the room and into the hall, turning off the lights and closing the door behind them.

"What was that about, I've never seen them like that." Hatori asked, glancing back at the room and sipping his coffee, wow, multi-tasking, how original of me.

Shigure smiled and looked back at the room. "They were just sharing childhood memories and family troubles." He turned to Tohru. "Oh, Tohru. When Yuki waked up, or when you get a chance, ask him to tell you about your hat. He'll understand."

Tohru looked confusedly at him and then nodded, "Okay, I will. But should we let them sleep? I think Yuki has a student council meeting tomorrow morning, and doesn't Aya have to look after his shop?"

Hatori answered, "Yes but I think Mine can take care of the shop until he comes, and Yuki will be able to wake up, hopefully."

Shigure added, "Yes, he can be a little bed-headed, sleepy and not a morning person at all, but," he smiled mischievously, "I think we'll be able to wake him, but it might be dangerous to do so now."

"Well, I'm going to go back to the main house. Call me if you need me." Hatori told them and walked out of the house.

"Do you think we should tell Kyo he can come back down?" Tohru asked Shigure, biting her lip.

"No, I think we should let him be." He stretched and yawned. "I'm going to go to my office and maybe reread my manuscript. See you in the morning!" Shigure waved and walked away into his office.

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And... we're back! Please read and review, Id really appreciate it.

Oh, right, like I said last chapter, I'm working on a lovery-dovey relationship little piece and I want your opinion on either AyaXoc or ShigureXoc ... so thnx a lot! I want YOUR opinion (btw so far i have 1 vote for AyaXoc)

One note, I apologize if any of the chars, specially Shigure seem a little OOC, but im trying to work on that. Im also trying to write longer chapters, its just I don't usually write with chapters, so I have to go back and break them up, but Ill try and make them longer next time.

Also, Im starting two new fics, so please read and review those as soon as I post them! With that, I won't be writing any new chapters for this or 'chaos levels' so fans of those... im sry! but, i have at least three chaps for both to type up and update, so you can look forward to those.

As for my new fics, they're 'Four Seasons' about a girl who turns up in the Sohmas lives and turned out to also be cursed, possible ShigureXoc pairing. The second 'Ice Prince' about how Yuki would react if he thought Tohru had died. So, look for those. COMING SOON!

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To my reviewers:

Yanikei: its good to hear from you! thnx for reviewing. im glad you think its 'awesome' , right back atcha and ill think about that, thnx again.

Dolphindreamer: thnx for sticking with me and ya, I noticed that too, sry bout that, im trying to work on it. see, i included tohru, and anything with sugar is sweeet... yum!

Tuki: Yep, short long short long, but it is in two parts, so that might be y, but im working on writing longer chapters. and, doesnt everyone like food? but me especially!

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See you next time! Ovwa! )


	8. The morning after

**Brotherly Bonds**

**Ch 7**

Hello again! more at end

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**

Yuki blinked his sleep heavy eyes open to discover that he was in a room that wasn't his bedroom. After he blinked a few more times to focus, he recognized a table, cabinet and TV. The living room, his still sleepy mind eventually registered.

And, in addition to being in the living room, he felt a warm, soft, comfortable fabric over his legs and torso. Yuki slowly tilted his head downwards, and registered that he was covered with a blanket. He smiled sleepily, Miss Honda must have done that, how nice of her.

Then, there was this odd weight on his right shoulder and also against his head. He slowly turned his head and saw white hair, and then, 'You!' He exclaimed sleepily, trying to push himself away from his brother.

But Aya wrapped his arms around Yuki again and rested his head on Yuki's shoulder, saying sleepily, "I'm not getting up yet, five more minutes." And then quickly fell asleep again. Yuki groaned, but didn't try to move away again, if the others found out about this he would never hear to the end of it, and with that lovely thought he fell asleep again.

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An hour later Tohru came into the living room to set the table for breakfast and to pick things up from last night. When she saw that both Aya and Yuki were still sleeping, Tohru immediately went into panic mode.

"Oh no, Yuki is going to be late for his meeting and then what will the other members think? That won't set a very good impression for him. And what about Ayame's shop, Mii can't do all the work by herself!" and on and on.

While she was getting upset and worked up, Ayame woke up again, stretched, and yawned loudly, opened his eyes and stared at her. Once he was more awake, and was able to understand what she was saying, he stood up, making sure not to wake Yuki and wrapped his arms around Tohru to stop her panicking. But it just set her off again.

There was a 'poof'-y sound, a cloud of hrey smoke and Aya reappeared around her neck as a snake. During Tohru's second round of apologies, and Aya correcting her saying it wasn't her fault at all, Yuki woke up again. He opened his eyes, saw Tohru standing on the other side of the table with his brother around her neck, stood up and sleepily walked into the kitchen, his head down half awake.

Kyo was also in the kitchen, but when he saw that Yuki was still only half-awake, he just ignored him and continued drinking the milk right out of the carton. Yuki was halfway done pouring a glass of orange juice when he realized what he had seen. He quickly put down the carton and rushed back into the living room.

"Miss Honda, my brother didn't do anything to you, did he?" He asked as he came in, now fully awake.

Tohru turned towards him, "Yuki! No, Ayame didn't do anything to me, he's just off changing now. But Yuki, you're going to be late for your students council meeting and you haven't showered, or eaten, or anything!"

Yuki smiled at her. "It's all right Miss Honda, I'll just wear this, it still looks okay, and if you would just pack me some rice balls in a bag, I'll be fine.'

Tohru smiled. "Well if you think so, then it's okay with me!" She went into the kitchen to make some rice balls for the 'Prince.'

"Tohru? I'm very sorry about- oh, Yuki!" Ayame said as he came into the room, fully dressed, then noticed that only Yuki was there. Aya went over to Yuki and hugged him tightly. "I had a good night with you Yuki, I hope you did so to. But I'm afraid that I must leave you in order to go to my shop, but I'll see you at our next session, or perhaps before. Farewell!" and left the room and house waving and grinning happily.

Tohru came back into the room carrying a small bag filled with rice balls. She handed it to Yuki who placed it inside his shoulder bag, which he then swung up on his shoulder.

"Did Ayame leave already? I wanted to say goodbye to him before he left."

Tohru asked, looking around.

"He had to get back to his shop, and left just before you came in, but I'm sure he wanted to say goodbye as well." Yuki told her and then smiled, "I'm afraid I have to go as well." He looked down at himself. "Does this outfit look alright?"

"You just need to straighten –it- a little. And you might need a tie." Tohru commented, then walked up to him and began adjusting his clothes. "That's better. I'll go get a tie for you, there should be one in the wash." She ran off and soon returned with one of his school ties.

Tohru helped him tie the tie and then stepped back. "That looks perfect. When do you think you'll be back?"

"Hopefully sometime early afternoon." Yuki sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "But I wouldn't count on it, we have a habit of getting off track easily. Well, I'll see you later when I get home Miss Honda." He finished and then walked out of the house and into the forest.

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Soooo, hello again! I have to say, im very happy all of you keep reading, it keeps me writing!

And, umm, what else shall i inform u of?

Oh! I know i know! i was going to say, i know i apologized for this last chap, and one reviewer, umm who was it, lets see... ShadowWolves said im not Ritsu, which i have to say: THANK GOODNESS! sry any Ritsu fans. But, im sry if any of the chars are OOC, im working on that. And for ShadowWolves, yes she reviewed twice, and thanks for that, OOC means out of charecter, so sry if u think so.

Also, I have only had one reviewer tell me about their prefrence of relationship. THATS NOT GOOD! I WANT MORE! Seriously people! I want to know what YOU think! So please tell me if u want ShigureXSam or AyameXSam, and I might add a little YukiXTohru as well, if u want it. YOU decide. You REVIEW.

And, if u havent yet, please read my other fics, 'Ice Prince' and 'Four Seasons,' my two new fics, and tell me what you think of them, I would really appreciate them. Also please check out 'Chaos Levels' which I hope to update on soon!

**To my reviewers:**

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I was sooooooooo happy when I saw I got 6 reviews for 1 chap! It made my day, all the way, hey that rhymes! woot woot!

ShadowWolves: I know im not ritsu, that of which i am glad of. But im glad u like my fic, that makes me happy! (ooc means out of charecter (see above for additonal notes))

Dolphindreamer: Im glad u liked it! It might happen, if they ever get along, but i liked the possibility of the moment. And about the hat, I will add it in in later chaps, so watch out!

Tuki: is that true? I didn't know that, where did u learn? Anyway, ill agree with you that theyre strange, but it would be so cute if they would. And dont worry... ill keep writing!

Winter's Light: Wasn't it though? I thought so too, not like im bragging or anything. And yeah, this chap was kinda what i was thinking of when i named it, so good for u!

chesirejin: yeah, thnx for noticing that! i forgot to say something about the typos. I'm also glad u think its going well!

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Allright people! Thats all for now, but i hope to update soon: so cya next chap! 


	9. Suprise visits

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 9

Hi everyone, sry about how long its been since I updated this, but I hope you like it, and there's more coming when I get around to it next! Enjoy!

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Shigure popped his head into the living room where Tohru was cleaning (funny how we keep ending up there, heh heh). "Tohru dear, if you don't mind I'm going to pop over to Hari's house." 

Tohru turned towards him and undid her apron ties. "Yes, that's fine. Go ahead, have fun."

"Thanks Tohru. I'll try to be home before dinner. Oh, and if Mii shows up tell her that I went off on a sudden vacation , or tell her that something came up and I'll be gone for awhile." He winked at her. "See you later."

"Bye!" Tohru called as Shigure left the house and disappeared into the forest.

* * *

"Hari! I've decided to come and grace you with my presence!" Shigure announced loudly, sliding Hatori's door open and walking inside. 

"Aya, I thought I told you not to bother me while I'm working." Hatoris voice came from further down the hall. Shigure followed the sounds and walked into Hari's office. "Give me ten more minutes of _silence_ Aya, then I'll do anything you want, within reason of course. but I need silence until then." Hatori lowered his head onto the desk and sighed.

"Tsk tsk Hari, you work too hard and too much. You need fun!" Shigure announced teasingly scolding Hatori who stared at him disbelievingly. (please don't sue me if thats spelled wrong)

Shigure pouted. "Aren't you happy to see me?" Then gave his cousin his world-record puppy eyes.

"At any other time, yes. But not now." Hatori told him tiredly. "What happened to Aya?"

Shigure sat down in the only other chair in the room and sighed. "He went to his shop for a while, and Yuki went to a student council meeting. And I was bored, so I decided to come visit you!"

"All right." Hatori scratched the back of his neck, then close the book that was laying in front of him on the desk. "I have an idea, why don't we go visit Yuki and Ayame's counselor so you can apologize."

"Ahhhhhhhhhh, do I have to?" Shigure whined, looking pityingly at Hari.

"Please stop that, I don't need any more Ayame or Momiji today. And stop looking at me that way." Hatori scolded, head in his hands and looking at Shigure sideways out of one eye, his good one.

At his tone Shigure replaced his pitying look with a blank look, and then gave in. "Fine, are we going now?"

"Yes." Hatori said, getting up from his chair and putting on his coat. Then he added as they walked out the door, "and we're not just doing this so you can get away from your poor editor." Hatori locked his house and soon they were getting into his car and driving away from the main house.

They were just pulling out when Shigure, who had been suprisingly quiet up until now, piped up saying, "Hari, didn't you say before that I could drive?"

"No." Hatori answered, glancing over at his cousin. "I never said that."

Shigure leaned over towards him, fully extending his seat belt, scaring Hari, and continued, "Oh yes you did. Last time we were in this very car in fact."

"Did not." Hatori interrupted childishly.

But Shigure continued, not blinking at Hatori's interruption. "You said, and I quote without any errors, 'Next time we drive, or use this car, I'll let you drive, but only under strict supervision.' I'm absolutely sure of it." He paused to look carefully at his cousin. "Now do you remember?"

"..." Hari didn't answer but continued to watch the road.

"Aha! You _do_ remember!" Shigure exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Hatori. "I knew you did, you were just pretending."

Hatori sighed. "Fine, I surrender."

Shigure put on his best puppy eyes. "Then you'll let me drive?"

"Do you still have your license?" Hatori asked, pulling into the parking ramp of the building they were going to.

There was a seconds pause before Shigure answered, glowing, "Of _course_ I do." (picture how he says it in the anime)

Hatori thought and then said, "Fine, you can drive home, but remember that I'm _letting_ you dirve." They got out of the car and walked into the building. "I must be finally loosing it. Your and Aya's craziness msut be rubbing off on me." Hari said, rubbing his forehead.

Shigure put a hand on his cousins shoulder as they climbed the stairs, "Don't ever say that hari! You will always be the reasonable voice in our trio. I demand that you will never 'loose it' or go crazy. That's impossible." He spoke more slowly as the many flights of stairs began to take a toll on him.

The finally made it up to the floor that the counselor's offices were on, with Shigure panting for breath and Hatori, well, not.

"Hari I -can't believe-that-your not-(wheeze) out of- breath." Shigure commented, finally collapsing onto the ground, clutching at his cousins pant leg.

"Shigure let go of my pant leg, and get off of the floor, you look like an idiot.' Hatori told his cousin, jerking his leg away from Shigure's hand.

"Hari your so me-an!" Shigure whined (only Shigure would be able to say that in two sylabulls), but got up nayways, just as the receptionist came over.

"How may I help-oh, its you two." She broke off as she recognized them. "What can I do for you?" She asked sighing.

"We're here to see Mrs Dalton, is she in?" Hatori asked politely.

The receptionist glanced at Shigure before answering, "Sam'swith a client right now, but she should be done in a few mintes. You can sit over there and wait." She answered, pointing at a row of chairs.

"Thank you. Shigure, don't you have something you want to say to this women?" Hatori asked to remind him.

"Huh? Oh. _Oh._" Then he pretended to whine. "Hari, do I _have_ to?"

"Yes."

"Oh, fine." Then Shigure turned to the poor receptionist. "I'm very sorry my dear girl. I did not mean to upset, harm or annoy you in any way when I was here yesterday." he took her hands and gave her his best pupp eyes. "Please forgive me."

The receptionist rapidly jerked her hands away. "Yes, of course. If you'll excuse me, I have some work to do." She began to walk back to her desk.

"All right Shigure, one down four left. Come on." Hatori put a hand on Shigure's shoulder and steered him to another pair of doors.

"Oh _c'mon_ Hari, I already apologized. If we keep this up then I'll lose my voice!" Shigure whined, pointing to his throat.

"A lot of people would be glad of that." Hatori said. "What about writing letters apologizing, would that be better?"

"Hari stop being so mean! I don't wanna apologize any more, I didn't want to from the begining." Shigure whined again.

"Fine, then don't blame me if everyone in this building is mad at you." Hatori said, giving up and sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Oh that would never happen, everyone loves me!" Shigure announced happily to the room, causing Hatori to look skeptical and the receptionist to quickly exit the room all of a sudden. "You don't believe me, you seriously don't beleieve me. Hari, I'm hurt!"

He put a hand over his heart and leaned back in his chair playing dead.

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All right everyone, thats all for now. but it was a good update. And, since there will be TWO parts to this chapter, I will post the second part either later today, or tomorrow. So no ranting about how short it is. 

Also, Im sorry if Shigure was a little OOC in this chapter, or if he appeared to be. That this is mainly just a filler chapter, to get the chars between Shigure's house and the counselor building. Another thing, if I'm calling it the wrong thing, Im sorry but I don't really know the difference. One more thing, my excuse for all and any spelling or grammar or any kind of errors at all: Im sick. Its true. Why else would I be able to update so much lately?

And I just noticed this, but ive been numbering the chapters wrong. I am very sorry for that and any confusion it might have caused, starting with this chapter I am numbering them RIGHT!

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Now for all the reviews: 

Tuki: Thanks for telling me, but u forgot to put the website in there. its okay, i do it too, just a little oopsie. but will u please tell me what it is? And im glad u liked it.

Shadow: Isn;t that a wonderful way to start your week, day w/e? Your welcome and thanks for reading. I promise to keep updating.

Winter's: Im glad you liked it, and thanks for the little ego-boost. JK. Anyway its okay it took u so long, it took me even longer to update, so now we're even. Thanks.

Dolphin: Yep I did, and I updated this time too! Sry if you thought it was short, and if this one was to, but it is a two part chapter. Actually its more like a filler, just to get them between the house and the building. And Im planning for a little YukiXTohru fluff in the future, so keep an eye out!

Missprongs: Im glad you like it, please keep reading!

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Thanks again! And see you next time! I promise it won't be so long until I see you again!

-miji-chan


	10. Suprise visits pt 2

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 10

Aren't you proud of me? I updated so soon? Not really, jk. I LOVE SNOW DAYS, woo hoo! Keep reading.

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"Shigure stop it, you don't look realistic at all. Sit up, here comes Miss Dalton." Hatori told his cousin, gently pushing him to sit up.

Hatori stood up. "Hello Ms Dalton. I'm sorry to take up your time, but this is slightly urgent." He turned back to Shigure who was still sitting. "Shigure get up and and stop staring."

Shigure stood up, stared for a few more seconds and then smiled easily at her. "Hello Ms Dalton, its nice to see you again. How have you been? Are you feeling alright? Are you glad to see me?" Shigure began blurting out questions as he circled her.

"Shigure stop it, your being a pervert as usual. Leave her alone." Hatori scolded, picked up a statue from the bookcase and thwacked his cousin over the head with it.

"Hari!" Shigure whined, rubbing his head.

Ms Dadlton looked at them, and then said uneasily, "Why don't we go into my office?" She shepparded them in and then shut the door behind them.

"Oh stop whining Shigure, you deserved it." Hatori told Shigure slightly annoyed, who was whining.

"So, what are you here for? Can I do something for you?" Ms Dalton asked them, as she sat down in her chair.

"Someone has something to say to you." Hatori said, and pointed at Shigure.

"Not her too Hari!" Shigure whined, pointing at Ms Dalton.

"Yes Shigure, her too." Hatori agreed, and pushed his cousin down in the chair opposite Ms Dalton.

"Fine." Shigure gave in and leaned forward, closer to Ms Dalton. "Ms Dalton, I-"

"Wait as second." Sam (I give up calling her Ms Dalton, too much work) said putting up a hand. "Your name is Shigure?" She asked, pointing at Shigure.

"Yes."

"Didn't you call the dog that was here yesterday Shigure as well?" Sam asked Hatori who look puzzled.

"You remember me!" Shigure exclaimed happily.

"Wha-?" Sam asked, very confused.

Hatori hit Shigure again (VIOLENT!). "It was a joke, _wasn't it Shigure_." He ignored his cousins whining beside him.

"Yes, of course it was." Shigure agreed, glaring at Hatori.

"Then that dog-" Sam began thoughtfully.

"was my dog." Shigure quickly finished for her. "You see, I named my dog after me, it was a joke really." He smiled at her. "So, did you like my dog? Did you think he was cute?"

Sam stared at him and then smiled. "Yes, I thought he was. I'm a dog lover, I used to have three at my old apartment."

"Me too! I love dogs. We're perfect for each other!" Shigure announced happily, looking overjoyed.

"Right, of course we are." Sam agreed, glancing doubtfully at Hari. "So, what are you here for? Ayame and Yuki's appointment isn't for another half hour."

"As I was saying before, Shigure here has something to say to you." Hatori told her, pushing Shigure forward a little with a finger on his back.

"What! Didn't I just apologize to her?" Shigure asked, looking taken aback.

"No, you told her about the dog, which was yours, that came yesterday. Now you have to apologize." Hari corrected Shigure, poking him in the back again.

Shigure rolled his eyes playfully. "Your going to be the death of me Hari, I just know it. Ms Dalton, I'm sorry that I- I mean my dog," he corrected himself with a quick glance at his cousin, "interrupted your session with my cousins yesterday. I'm sure he didn't mean to do so."

"Um, well thank you for your apology on his behalf." Sam said, although she didn't sound like she believed him.

"Your very welcome!" Shigure chirruped happily.

"Even though he was so cute I didn't really mind." Sam admitted, smiling.

"She thinks I-he's cute! Oh, I'm so happy!" Shigure said, his hands over his heart, smiling happily and pretended to cry.

"Stop that Shigure, you look like an idiot/ One day I might actually let Yuki knock you through the roof like he's always threatening." Hatori threatened Shigure, who stared wide-eyed back at him.

"Hari, you would never!"

"Yes I would."

"But I could be hurt!"

"Not terribly. Besides, I'd treat them for you.:

"You would just turn me over to him?" Shigure asked theatrically, raising his voice.

"He's your cousin, you may be annoying but I don't think he'd critically wound you."

"He's my _second cousin_, and you don't know that he wouldn't hurt me for sure!" Shigure corrected, teasing Hari, then his eyes narrowed slightly. "You called me annoying."

"Well, you are. Some of the time at least." Hatori told his cousin, looking skeptical. Shigure pouted and gave Hari his best puppy eyes.

"Those don't work on me anymore, I'm immune. I've been around you too long." Hatori informed a still pouting Shigure.

"Ha ha! That's what you say." Shigure said, smiling wickedly.

Hatori stood up. "I think we should leave, we've taken up enough of Ms Dalton's time."

Shigure looked up at him, "Can't we stay? Just until Aya and Yuki come?"

"No, I wouldn't treat Ms Dalton to the torture of being in the same room with you and Ayame at the same time." Hatori said, giving Sam a small one sided smile.

"Oh we're not _that_ bad." Shigure argued flapping hand, still sitting.

"Hellooooooooo! Ms Dalton, are you in?" came a loud, familiar voice. There was a knock on the door and Ayame stuck his head in. "Gure?" Aya asked as he noticed Shigure sitting in his chair.

"Aya!" Shigure said loudly, running to his friend and sharing a tight hug.

"Come on Hari, join in!" Aya scolded Hari, who was remaining where he stood.

"No thanks, I don'r want to get in between you two."

"Oh, Hari's feeling left out."

"We must do something for him!"

"You're right Aya! But what?"

There was a blessed minute of silence as Aya and Shigure stood together thinking.

"Oh oh! I know!" Shigure sang, bouncing up and down on his feet energetically, his hand raised.

"What! What!"

"We should have a group hug!"

"Gure, your brilliant!"

"I know." Shigure said, smiling sheepishly.

"All right Hari, come here!" Aya said, turning to Hari and spread his arms wide.

"No really, I'm fine. No, you don't have-" Hatori tried to ward them off, but ended up being smothered by Aya and Shigure's hug.

"What on earth are you three doing?"

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HAHAHAHAHAHA! I left you with a cliff hanger, nah nah nah nah nah! Jk, I'll update soon, promise. But its not really very significant. Thanks for reading and please review! Keep me happy! I LOVE writing Madubachi (sp?) trio scenes, thats why I laughed the whole time I wrote this one. They're so funny. Actually I love all of the trio, but they're the best when they're together.

I'm working on updating all of my fics, so please keep an eye out, and read and review those! I'd be very very hapy if you did. And I registered on the site fictionpress so please check out my fics there too!

To my reviewers:

Red: Im glad you like it as well and enjoy it. I promise to keep reviewing.

Yanikei: Thats alright, I understand. I'm glad you still like it, and yes I think everyones a little careful around Gure, specially the receptionist now. I'm gladyour looking forward to a new chapter and thanks for the offer.

Tuki: Thats okay, and thanks. I'm glad you enjoy it and that you understand.

Shadow: Thanks Im glad you liked it. And that helps, thanks.

Winter's: Great, andI will.

Dolphin: Of course, and we always need fillers. But I hope this one was okay, even though it is part two of Ch 9, sort of. Sry about the typos and thanks for the compliments. promise I will

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Alright, there ya go! I promise to update soon. Spring Break is next week WOO HOO! So if I write more I'll update more, promise. But for now, sayonara.

-miji-chan


	11. Darth Vader appears

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 11

Hey everyone! I'm baa-acck! And w/out further adue... the next chapter of BROTHERLY BONDS! WOO HOO!

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The trio turned around to see Yuki standing wide-eyed in the doorway. They quickly split apart.

"Yuki, how wonderful to see you! How was your student council meeting? Sit down, you look tired." Aya practically threw himself at Yuki, asking him question after question and steering him into Shigure's empty chair.

"We were hugging. Friends sometimes do that you know." Shigure told Yuki teasingly.

Yuki looked up at him. "Sure." He obviously didn't believe him.

"It's tru-ue!" Shigure whined, making Yuki roll his eyes and look away.

"Shigure stop it, it was just a hug." Hatori scolded Shigure, who pouted and then walked over to Aya's chair and leaned against the back, making faces.

"Gure, your making fun of me." Aya pouted, pretending to be mad. "No, of course I'm not Aya! I would never do that!" Shigure pretended to be surprised and then started being theatrical.

"I don't believe you." Aya stated, bending over.

"Oh Aya, don't be upset. I could never live with myself knowing that I had made you upset." Shigure confronted Aya, wrapping his arms loosely around his cousins neck.

"Gure your choking me." Aya told Shigure, pretending to be choking. "Let go please!"

"Not until you admit that I wasn't."

"Gure!" Aya gagged louder and harsher.

"Shigure stop it. You're the one who should apologize to Ayame. _You_ were making faces." Hatori scolded them, raising a critical eyebrow.

"Fine." Shigure pretending to give in and loosened his arms. "Aya, I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to upset you." He turned to look sideways at his cousin. "Friends?"

Aya stuck his bottom lip put, and then there was a slight pause. "Friends!" He agreed enthusiastically.

"Alright!" They shouted happily, giving each other the thumbs up.

Hatori rubbed his forehead as he leaned against the wall. Sam was staring at Shigure and Ayame, wondering how they could go from being mad at each other to being friends again so quickly, and what was 'alright'?

"Alright come one Shigure, we're leaving." Hatori informed his cousin, as he went over to him and helped him get up out of the chair.

"Why? I want to stay here!" Shigure whined. "Do we really have to go?" He asked, giving Hari his puppy eyes and refusing to stand up.

"Yes, we do." When Shigure opened his mouth again to protest Hari added, "Because we're paying for these sessions and I'm sure Miss Dalton would like to actually get something _done_ during this time."

Shigure rolled his eyes, got up and followed Hatori to the door, then he abruptly swung back around again and informed Sam, "Ms Dalton, since this is your last appointment why don't you come over to my house afterwards for dinner. I'm sure Yuki and Aya can show you the way. I'll see you then!" He waved and disappeared again, not giving time for Sam to say yes or no. The last he could be heard was asking Hatori if he could drive home, and if he could have the keys to the car. O.o

"Well, alright then." Sam said, running a hand through her hair and looking at her clipboard, disguising her confusion. "I guess we should start, especially since we only have," she looked at her watch, "half an hour left." And silently groaned.

"Miss Dalton I'm sorry if my cousins or brother did anything to upset you. It's just when the three of them get together, they can be a little overwhelming." Yuki apologized to Sam, sorry that he hadn't tried to stop them.

"Oh don't worry about it, I'm fine." Sam said, flipping through her notes in her notebook. Yuki gave her a look that clearly said he didn't believe her and then looked away out the window.

"Miss Dalton, can I call you Sam?" Aya gushed, and when she nodded continued rapidly. "Sam you will just _love_ coming over to Gure's house! Tohru's food is sooo delicious, it's nearly gourmet!" Ayame told Sam, waving his arms around and talking loudly.

He went on for a few more minuets, describing how wonderful Shigure's house was, and about Tohru's cooking. Sam looked over at Yuki who was still staring absently out the window. "Can't you just thwack him?"

Yuki blinked and turned towards her. "No, Hatori's the only one who can do that. He's the only one nii-san responds to." Then he moved so he could watch his brother.

"And he just left." Sam sighed and put her head in her hands hopelessly.

"Nii-san, do you want me to _kick you through the roof_?" Yuki asked Ayame icily.

Aya turned around to stare at Yuki, his golden eyes wide and bottom lip stuck way out. "Yuki, you would never,"

"See? At least it stopped him." Yuki told Sam, glancing over at her. Sam stared at him, looked over at the still pouting Ayame, back at Yuki and asked in all seriousness. "Would you really kick him through the roof?"

"Yes." Yuki answered shortly and looked away again.

"Well, okay then." Sam said. "So" she looked up at the brothers. "What do you think caused such a large rift between you two?" When they looked surprised and then looked at each other, she added, "If its too personal, then,"

"No, its alright Miss Dalton. You are here to help us after all." Yuki reassured her, smiling slightly.

"I suppose," Aya started to say, leaning back in his chair, "it's mostly the age difference. Since we're ten years apart, and all."

"Yuki, what do you think?" Sam asked, a little surprised at Ayame's seriousness, who knew he _could_ be serious.

"I don't know." Yuki said, rubbing the back of his head and then looked coldly over at Aya. "I suppose that ten years doesn't help. That and," he glanced out the window again, "he wasn't there for me when I needed him."

Sam was surprised by Yuki's comment, what was he talking about? But clearly Ayame did, because a look of guilt and pain crossed his face, and then he tilted his head down so he was looking at the floor.

The Sohma family was so interesting to Sam. When hadn't Ayame been there for his brother, and why? She wanted to ask more, but what if she got in trouble for doing so? So what? She told herself and began to ask another question when she caught a glimpse of the brother's faces.

Ayame's enthusiastic and dramatic mood had been broken and instead he was sitting silently in his chair. Yuki was once again staring out the window and he had put up his barriers again. He seemed to want to shut himself away from the world, and wanted it to stay that way.

Sam wished she could ask more about it, but it seemed like a personal family matter that they wanted to keep secret.

But wait, she _was_ a _therapist_, it was her _job_ to ask personal questions. "Do either of you want to tell me what you're talking about?"

Yuki answered shortly, "No."

Ayame looked up at her and gave a small smile, but still said, "No, its more of a family problem. I don't think we're allowed to talked about it."

Sam gave a small, 'hmph' and asked, "not allowed by who, exactly?"

(Enter Darth Vader theme song music: _dum dum dum, dum de dum, dum de dum_)

"Not allowed, on my orders." A cold, dark voice said from behind Sam.

"A-Akito!" Yuki started, and Sam turned around to look after hearing the barely hidden terror in his voice.

Standing, leaning against the doorway, was a young man who, creepily, looked a lot like Yuki, except he was older, had black hair and was dressed completely in black. The mans eyes were cold, and haunted, as he moved into the room the look in his eyes sent shivers down her spine.

"Hello Yuki. Don't worry, I heard you and your brother were here today and decided to come visit." Akito walked over to Yuki's chair and sat down on the back of it. "And also to say hello to Miss Dalton of course." He said smiling at her, once again sending shivers down her spine.

"And Ayame, how have you been? I haven't see you lately, you aren't at the main house very often." Akito had walked over to Ayame's chair and was leaning over the back, his head right by Aya's stroking his hair.

Ayame turned his head slightly towards Akito, but didn't say anything in response.

"Akito." A voice said slightly reproving from the doorway and they all turned to look. A man with red-brown hair, shielded brown eyes and looked around Ayame's age walked into the room.

Akito looked up angrily, "What?"

"You said we would stay for a few minutes," the man paused slightly at the look on Akito's face, "and its been longer then that." He briefly glanced over at Yuki and Ayame.

Akito sighed and stood up straighter. "Very well. I'm glad I was able to see you Yuki and Ayame, please come visit me soon. It was nice meeting you Miss Dalton." He walked out the door and the other man bowed and closed the door after them.

There was a stunned silence as they sat stiffly in their chairs, no one wanting to make any conversation.

Then a loud, annoying beeping sound abruptly started, they remained like statues until Sam leapt up and over to her desk. Papers flew everywhere and banging and crashing sounds with no source could be heard, and finally the beeping abruptly stopped again.

Sam grasped at her desk, and slowly rose herself up into a sitting position, stumbled back into her chair and landed in it with a small 'puft.' He hair was mysteriously disheveled and her clothes were wrinkled.

"Sam, are you alright?" Ayame asked, slowly standing up and walked over to the desk to stare at her.

"Who-who was that man?" Sam stumbled over words, not able to get rid of the feeling of cold terror she had felt.

Ayame opened his mouth to answer, but stopped when Yuki quietly stood up and left the room. When the door shut again, Aya told her confidingly, "He was Akito, the head of our family." He sighed. "Just to warn you, Akito is an object of terror for Yuki, so please don't talk about him a lot around my brother." Then Aya stood up and took her hand. "Now we are off to see Gure!" He gently led her over to the door and waited as she turned off the lights and locked the door behind them.

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Hee hee, did you like the Darth Vader theme song? I thought that would be funny and is now Akito's theme music from here on. And this is where the SamXAya fluff starts, sorta. Last note, this is the last chapter of BB that I have written, so from now on I have to start writting again. So just to warn you it might take a while to update again, because I'm not sure where the story is going from here.

Okay boring notes over. And now for my reviewers:

shadow: Im glad you think its funny, its meant to. And Aya's a boy, but it is hard to tell sometimes with him.

Tuki: yes, that was supposed to be funny, hope so anyway. And while he's trying to get her to fall in love with him, she and Aya are falling in love. Cu-ute! Im glad you liked it, and isnt that the way that Gure and Aya are meant to be?

Yanikei: Yes, exactly, you really feel sorry for him. Not sure squish, but something else sure. And yes, there is more AyaxYuki moments coming up, there was sorta one in this chapter, but not a big one I admit. I promise to keep writing and Im glad its still funny. Good.

Winter's: Goody good. Me too, snow days GOOD. Im sry u didnt get one. Actually my school rarely ever gets a snow day so it was really suprising. I promise to update again as soon as I can.

Indigo: Im glad its funny. And yes, it was sweet wasn't it?

Dolphin: Yep, yippe yay. yeah, sry about any typos, I need to watch those. oopsie. I like the trio too, they bring funnyness or comic relief, w/e. Yeah, Yanikei told me about that so I read it and realy liked it. She updated again and Sam was in the new chapter too. I promise to update and try to make them longer. Promise.

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Okay everyone, thats it for now. Next chapter is dinner at Gure's and more AyaxYuki and AyaxSam. Promise. See yall soon! -miji-chan (I gotta go get my choclate chip cookies: YUMMY!


	12. Dinner with the Sohma's pt 1

**Brotherly Bonds**

**Ch 12 pt 1**

I'm baaaaaaaa-aacccccccccck! everyone applauds Thank you, thank you very much. Well, enjoy the chapter. Read and review! PLEASE!

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The walk to Shigures house was eerily quiet. No one said a word, not that there was nothing to say, the cheerful mood had been broken by Akito's appearance.

Yuki was walking a little ways behind them with his head down and hair covering his eyes. To Sam he looked even more shut away now then before.

Ayame was walking next to Sam, but neither of them had said anything. Instead they were walking in silence. Aya's enthusiastic and cheerful mood was gone, and now his silence and lack of chatting was disturbing to Sam. Sure, before she had wanted him to be quiet, but now was another story. To be honest it was scaring her, Sam didn't like seeing him like this. (Crush much?)

But then they found themselves at what she supposed was Shigure's house before she could muster enough courage to ask or even make an attempt at talking.

When Ayame knocked on the door there was a loud shout from inside the house, probably Shigure Sam guessed, but it was someone else who actually came to the door. A young girl, a teenager, with long brown hair and wide green eyes, slid open the door and said, smiling, "Ah, hello Ayame-san. And this must be our guest Shigure was talking about."

Sam nodded and waved, "Hi, I'm Samantha Dalton, its nice to meet you."

The girl smiled back at her and her face fell drastically as she looked behind them over Sam's shoulder. Sam turned slightly to see Yuki who had stopped a few feet behind them. He was standing still, his face hidden under his bangs.

"Yuki-kun?" She asked, leaning forward slightly, looking worried. Yuki raised his head slightly but didn't meet anyone's eyes.

Aya gently took Sam's arm and led her into the house as he whispered in her ear. "I think we should leave them be for now Sam." When he noticed her worried expression Aya added. "Don't worry, if anyone can cheer my brother up its Tohru."

They were now inside the house, Aya expertly leading Sam down the halls. But at his last comment Samantha exclaimed in surprise, "Tohru? That was Tohru?" She gave an odd laugh. "I see now, this makes sense." Sam laughed again. "Lead on Aya!"

Ayame looked confusedly at her, then laughed. "Alright, lets go!" They turned to walk down another hall, laughing and chatting away until Shigure popped out of a room, bringing them to a halt.

"Gure dear!"

"Aya, darling. How lovely it is to see you!"

And with that Aya and Shigure launched themselves at each other in a deep hug. Then, after a few seconds later of awkwardness, Shigure turned to Sam grinning happily.

"And Samantha, darling. Its wonderful to see you here in my humble home." He announced, taking her hand and kissing it romantically.

Sam blushed, "Yes it is a very nice home." Then she remembered a few hours before. "Actually, you kind of made me come. But I am happy to be here of course."

Shigure winked. "Of course." When he noticed Aya pouting behind them he turned and hugged his cousin. "Aya darling, don't pout. It ruins your wonderful complexion."

"But your ignoring me Gure. And it pains me so much when you do!" Aya whined, pouting heavily.

"Aya! You're finally here!" Someone exclaimed from nearby and Sam was able to see a young, blonde boy launch himself at Ayame who expertly picked him up and swung him around.

"That's Momiji, another cousin of ours. Actually, he's-" Shigure told Sam, leaning sideways from beside her.

"Ayame, stop swinging Momiji around, he'll get sick." Hatori scolded his cousin from where he was leaning against the doorway.

"Ah, Hari." Aya whined, but no one listened to him.

"I see you were able to find your way here." Hatori said to Sam, looking over at her.

"Yes." Sam agreed. Hatori nodded. "Dinne should be ready in a few minutes, or at least Tohru said so last time someone complained." He frowned, "Where is Tohru?"

Sam opened her mouth to answer but was distracted by the cute blond boy.

"Hi there! I'm Momiji, whats your name?" He smiled at her, first pointing at himself, then Sam.

A little taken back at his energy she replied, "Samantha, Sam."

While they had been talking Ayame had answered Hatori. "She's out front with my brother. Our dear Tohru was upset about Yuki, I think she's trying to console him."

Hari looked puzzled, "What was there to be upset about?"

"Oh Hari, you know little Tohru. She gets upset at the smallest things, actually." Aya took this as an opportunity to launch into a total character and personality analysis of Tohru. (Now available for download!)

In the meanwhile Sam told the summarized version of what had happened. When the Sohma's she was relating it to heard this their faces fell and they looked upset and worried.

"That's not good news."

"Poor Yuki."

Hatori had a more practical response, but his face was still void of emotion. "Why did Akito choose to show up today?" He thought and then began questioning Sam, "Did he say anything specific to Yuki? Or Ayame, or even you?"

Tohru's cheerful call of, "Dinners ready!" cut through Hatori's line of questioning. They walked into the living room, Sam being led by Ayame and Shigure, and settled down into a circle around the table.

'Hatori should have been a police officer, he can be so intimidating. I wonder what he does for a living anyway.' Sam thought to herself but was stopped from asking when an orange-haired boy, teenager, came stomping into the room and abruptly sat down next to Tohru.

"Kyo!" Tohru exclaimed happily, 'So this is Kyo,' Sam mused, "I thought you had gone somewhere."

The boy, Kyo, shook his head. "Nah, I've just been sitting up on the roof."

"What were you doing up there Kyon-Kyon?" Shigure asked. "Shouting, I suppose. I hope you didn't hurt yourself coming down." Aya broke in as he ate.

"Don't call me that!" Kyo shouted angrily.

"More along the lines of sulking, I would say." Shigure argued, causing Kyo to growl angrily. "I was not!" He glanced around the room. "Where's that darn rat Yuki?"

Tohru's face fell. (not literally). "He said he would eat later in his room."

No one responded, instead choosing to eat their dinner and not meeting each others eyes.

Finally Sam broke the silence, speaking her thoughts. "Why did you call him a rat?"

Kyo looked sharply at her over his bowl. "Who're you?"

Sam smiled brilliantly at him and gave a small, mocking bow. "Samantha Dalton at your service."

"What?"

She nearly crowed with laughter. Ah, her job was so much fun, and if she could continue it after hours? All the better, "My name, is _Samantha Dalton_. It's nice, to meet you." Sam said slowly, talking loudly.

Kyo glared at her. "Ya don't have to talk to me like I'm slow or somethin. I can hear just fine." He paused, "What I meant was _why_ are you here?"

Sam shrugged. "Oh. Shigure invited me."

"What!"

"Kyo please calm down. No doubt Yuki is trying to sleep, and you, are not helping." Hatori instructed, ever practical.

"Butt out Hatori." Kyo exclaimed angrily. "Kyo." Tohru said softly. Sam reckoned that Tohru was the only one who could draw his name out into two syllabus. (don't sue me if I spelled that wrong)

Kyo ducked his head, "Sorry." Shigure reached over and patted Kyo harshly on the back. "That's the spirit Kyo."

"Stupid mutt." Was Kyo's only reaction and was said under his breath. Sam scrunched her nose at his response, just another mention of Shigure as a dog.

Tohru, who had ever since her slight reproval of Kyo had been spooning portion sized parts of food onto a plate, stood up holding the plate. "I'm going to go give this to Yuki, he must be hungry." As she left the room Momiji jumped up as well. "I'll come with you!" Then they left the room together, Momiji chattered happily, leaving Sam alone with Kyo _and_ the trio.

Ayame sighed noisily. "I hope Yuki cheers up from this, its horrible to see him so upset."

"Feh, what happened anyway? To get the rat so upset?" Kyo scowled to show his displeasure at having to ask.

The trio glanced at each other, and Sam continued eating. "Akito showed up at Aya and Yuki's session today."

Kyo's eyes flared with anger, "That annoying guy! Always sticking his ugly nose into everything!" He exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.

Sam was interested by Kyo's reaction, none of the other Sohma's she met had responded like this. "What's got you so pissed?"

"Its none of your business? You don't know anything about this!"

She shrugged, "No I don't, but you don't have to yell at me because of it." This was the problem with doing things with your clients outside of work, you tend to go all 'Miss Psychiatrist' on them. Or the upside if you see it that way. "You could have just politely told me not to ask."

But before Kyo could respond Tohru came back in with Moniji attached to her side. (once again, not literally)

"Is my little brother feeling better now?" Aya asked, looking up as she sat down.

Tohru frowned slightly. "Yes, I believe so. But he should rest for a while. I hope he can sleep well tonight." Aya quickly leapt to his feet and ran out of the room, to check on Yuki, Sam reasoned. "Ayame!" Tohru called worriedly after him.

"We should let them see each other Tohru, this is one of their chances to make up." Shigure told Tohru, motioning for her to sit down again.

"Yes, so they can bound as brothers!" Momiji agreed happily.

"Idiot." Kyo scowled. "Don't you mean bond?" Momiji put a finger to his lips, and thought. "Oh yeah, 'bond.'"

Meanwhile Shigure had noticed that the third present member of the trio had not spoken or moved for awhile. He shifted his position slightly and leaned over to poke his cousin in the side. "Hari?"

He didn't respond. Shigure slowly and carefully pushed Hari's bangs away from his face to reveal his pale-faced and fast asleep cousin. The dog, or mutt, smiled and removed his hand. "He's asleep." Shigure informed his interested dinner companions.

"That's good news, Hari hasn't been sleeping well lately." Momiji commented, looking over at Hatori, smiling softly. "Actually he hasn't been sleeping at all."

Sam looked up from her now empty plate confused, "What do you mean, doesn't everyone have to sleep?"

Shigure spoke up, "Yes, but Hari doesn't get the chance to sleep very often. He's usually too busy with work."

Scoffing, Sam waved a hand, "I'm busy with my work but I get the chance to sleep."

"It's not like that," Momiji began to protest, but Sam's mind, and mouth, was off on another topic.

"Hey Shigure, didn't you say you had a dog?"

* * *

Well, thats it for now. Part Two coming soon. I PROMISE. I already have most of it written up, so lucky lucky you.

Please don't forget to review! I really appreciate them. And thank you as well to those who've put my stories on their favorites list.

**Reviewers:**

Tuki: yes, it does. I luv that movie. And I promise to be more quick next time.

Winter's: uh huh. trumpets sound what the-? That stinks! Man, I hope that never happens to me! JK. And its cool bout the storm, well not so much for your friend... Yes I did read it... does that mean im crazy? Sry, next time will be faster.

Yanikei: Im glad i could do that. I don't like science either. And I agree with you. Plot doesn't matter. laughs maniacally

Dolphin: Thanks. And as for your suggestion, thanks as well. Also thanks for the corrections, I appreciate it. I promise to, and next time WILL be sooner.

Indigo: Mmm hmm. Grins Yep.

Shadow: Yes, they really are. I'm glad u liked it. And as for your question, if it wasnt answered yet, its an expression, like ;)

* * *

Thanks again for reading! Please review! Next update WILL be sooner, I promise.

See ya soon,

miji-chan


	13. Dinner with the Sohma's pt 2

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 13

Okay! After three months: WE ARE BACK! Woo hoo! Sry it took so long!

Please read and review!

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Everyone, except for Sam (and Hari), sweatdropped. She glanced around at all of them. "Well didn't you?"

"Yes, but," Shigure began to explain, trying to do so that Sam wouldn't know that he wasn't lying, but just twisting the truth, slightly. But Kyo and Momiji's inborn reflexes were faster.

"What are you talking about? There's no dog living here, except for that idiot." Kyo exclaimed, pointing at Shigure who responded with a 'who, me?' expression.

"Momiji, maybe you and Hatori should go back to the main house. I don't want you two to be tired tomorrow on my account." Tohru told the young blond cheerfully, picking up the table.

Momiji looked doubtfully at her. "Yeah, but I don't know how'd we get home. Hari drove over here and I can't drive, and Aya's staying the night…"

While Shigure chirped with joy, Kyo gave a strangled yell, "What! No way is that idiot staying here!"

"Ah, Kyo," Shigure whined and Tohru continued quietly, "Perhaps it would be better if he did stay, Yuki might enjoy his company." Kyo hmphed but didn't continue his protest.

"Can I stay the night too?" Momiji asked hopefully from around his lollipop.

"No I think you and Hari should go back Momiji. What if someone calls for Hari and he isn't there?" Shigure disagreed peacefully.

Momiji pouted, "Kay, but how? Hari's asleep and no one else here can drive!"

"I can." Sam volunteered helpfully. "I walked here so I don't have my car with. You'll just have to show me where you live."

"Do you have your license?" Shigure said pointedly. "Yes, don't you?" Sam asked, raising and eyebrow at him. "Nope!"

She shook her head at him. "How odd. So what do you say?" Sam asked Momiji, turning towards him.

Momiji grinned at her. "I say yes! But wait, what about Hari? If we wake him up he might not get back to sleep again."

"Oh. Well, I don't want that, and I doubt I could carry him…" Sam paused thoughtfully, then abruptly turned her head to look at Shigure again. "How about you?"

"Me?" Shigure pointed at himself, causing Sam to roll her eyes. "Yes, you. Who else could I be looking at?"

"Well, I suppose so."

Sam nodded. "Trying's good. I have my coat, did you wear one Momiji?"

"No. Hari thought it was warm enough so we wouldn't have to."

"Well, we should start off then." Sam announced, standing up. "Thank you for the dinner Tohru, it was really good."

Tohru blushed, mumbled something and bowed slightly causing Kyo to scowl and lightly tap her on the head. "You don't have to bow you know."

"Don't hurt her Kyo, 'sides, its cute." Shigure playfully scolded the cat who scowled and leaned back against the wall.

Shigure, smiling triumphantly, stood up and walked over to the still sleeping Hari (once he's out, he's out), then after he paused picked his cousin up bridal style (ew!). "You ready?" He asked quietly.

Sam and Momiji nodded. Shigure walked back over to them and followed the two out, pausing to give a few directions to his fellow housemates.

"Kyo, Tohru, you're in charge of the house while we're gone. Please don't disturb Aya or Yuki, it's an opportune time for them. Oh, and Kyo you don't need to upset either of them any further." He paused thoughtfully for a few seconds. "That's it! Have fun!"

All of them, Momiji, Sam and Shigure turned and began walking out of the room. Then Shigure turned suddenly and stuck his head back in. "Oh, and Kyo make sure that you don't do anything to our dear Tohru while I'm gone." He chortled happily, when Kyo scowled darkly at him and Tohru looked confused, then left again.

The trio, plus the still asleep Hatori, made their way to Hari's car that was parked a little ways down the path. Momiji was oddly subdued, as well as Sam, although she was deep in thought, and Shigure as well, probably because he didn't want to wake his 'dear Hari.'

They found the car sitting blocking the path. Sam stopped in front of it and turned to her companions. "Okay, who has the keys?"

Shigure looked at her innocently. "Not me, Hari doesn't trust me with them." Sam sighed annoyedly and turned to Momiji, "How about you?"

Momiji shook his head. "Nah uh, not me." He smiled, I can't drive, why would I have them?"

Sam laughed, "Too true, too true. So that means Hatori has them." She sighed. "Wonderful."

Sam turned to Shigure. "Alright, fetch." He turned open-eyed to look at her. "What?" She rolled her eyes. "You're going to have to get the keys from Hari."

"Whats wrong with you fetching them?" Shigure protested.

"Why don't I just get them, so we don't have to keep standing out here in the cold." Momiji interrupted, always the peacemaker of the group.

Sam and Shigure turned to look at each other for a few moments. "Alright then." Sam shrugged. "That would work." Shigure added.

Momiji nodded happily and smiled. "Kay." He slowly walked up to Shigure, and stopped in front of Hatori. He slowly studied his older cousin, glancing up and down his still, tall form. "Where'd you think he put them?" Momiji scrunched up his nose and turned to look at them.

"Check his suit pockets first, then his pants pockets." Shigure instructed the rabbit, then shifted the way he was holding his cousin.

"Alright, lets see." Momiji quietly and slowly reached up to stick his hand into Hari's left side pocket but then quickly removed it and shook his head. He then tried the other pocket, and let out a quiet exclamation of triumph.

"Did you get it?" Shigure whispered quietly, well as quietly as he could whisper.

Momiji nodded and held up a key ring with at least half a dozen keys hanging off it.

Sam sighed, "Wonderful, okay which one's for the car?"

Shigure and Momiji looked at each other, then back at Sam with a 'are you kidding me' look. The mutt took the keys from Momiji and dangled them in front of Samantha. "I don't know, maybe the one that has the Toyota logo on it?" He drawled sarcastically, then threw the keys to Sam who caught it easily.

"Ha ha." Sam said, picking out the correct key and walked over to the car then swiftly unlocked it. "Put him in." She instructed Shigure, who walked over and gently sat him upright in the back seat. Momiji clambered in from the other side and Shigure joined Sam in the passenger seat as she started the car.

"Sam, I should remind you before we take off that you don't know where you're going." Shigure commented as he buckled his seat belt.

Sam rolled her eyes, "Yes, I know. That's why I was depending on you for directions." Shigure winced slightly. "Alright we'll start on the path to the walled fortress."

"Huh?" Momiji commented from his seat in the back seat, currently on his knees peering at the dragon. "Nothing Momiji, he's just being odd." The rabbit nodded and sat back down to gaze out the window.

They made it to the main road and turned down it towards the main house, at least that's where they thought it led.

"Shigure, do you care to explain why we've been driving down this road for twenty minutes and have yet to find the street you mentioned." Sam asked angrily with clenched teeth, glancing over at the dog who blushed and mumbled something.

"Care to repeat that?"

"I said, 'we're going the wrong way.'" Shigure announced brightly, risking Samantha's temper.

"Shh!" Momiji scolded, a finger to his lips. "You'll wake Hari!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "No duh." She turned on the blinker and made an abrupt u-turn, which was most likely illegal. When they returned to their starting place she turned to the dog again and said mock-patiently, "You want to repeat those directions again?"

Shigure looked over at her and childishly stuck his tongue out at her. "Yes, I will." And with that he proceeded to give her directions, the correct ones, to the Sohma house.

When they arrived, Shigure and Momiji convinced the guards to let Samantha in and so they drove inside the compound then stopped just outside what Shigure and Momiji told her to be Hatori's house.

After the group had piled out of the car and Shigure was carrying Hatori again, they locked the vehicle and began to walk towards the house. Momiji skipped happily beside Sam and told her confidingly, "While you're here, there's just one thing to remember." Sam turned towards him and raised her eyebrows. He leaned in closer, "Watch out for Akito, he doesn't like strangers walking around the main house."

"I see." Sam commented, following them up the stairs of the house. She waited as Shigure unlocked the door. After he shepherded them inside, Shigure walked in front of them and turned into a room on the left side of the hall.

The others caught up to him in the room to see the dog laying Hatori down on the couch and covering him with a blanket. When Shigure saw them behind him he waved them out with a hand and smile. Once outside the dog closed the door.

"We'll let Hari sleep. Sam, I'll show you out of the compound." They were at the front door now, standing on the steps. Shigure turned back to Momiji who had followed them out, "Will you be alright Momiji? You can take care of Hari by yourself?"

The bunny nodded and waved cheerfully to them then disappeared back into the house. Shigure laughed and waved for Sam to follow him.

At Sams questioning glance he responded, "Hatori adopted Momiji after his parents, well-" Shigure smiled, "that would be a Sohma secret. Come on then."

They renewed their walk on the way to the gate, weaving in and out of plain view. Luckily, they didn't meet anyone on the path and were nearly to the front gate, when…

"Shigure, you've come to visit me. How wonderful." They both turned at the cold, flat voice that spoke behind them to see Akito standing there, a cold smile gracing his lips.

"Hello Akito." The dog greeted, pretending as much as he was able to to be happy at the sight of the teenager. Sam bobbed her head slightly in greeting as well.

Akito noticed her behind Shigure and smiled. "You are the woman who is helping Yuki and Ayame with their… problems." Sam nodded and Shigure looked at them surprised. "You've meet Samantha, Akito-san?"

The head tilted his head slightly. "Yes, I had the fortune of meeting her earlier this afternoon." Sam stared slightly at him, here was a nineteen year old head of an important family, wearing an completely black outfit who spoke as of he had just time-warped from the eighteenth century.

"Now, what are you doing here?" Akito demanded of Sam, glaring at her.

She stared right back at him. "I drove Shigure, Momiji and Hatori back here to Hatori's house." Akito laughed. "Very well then, you may return to your home Shigure." He walked up to them and then past Shigure before turning back.

"Does she know, about the curse?" Akito asked coolly, whispering into Shigure's ear. The dog slowly shook his head.

"No, Aya and Yuki were under the impression they weren't allowed to." The head smiled. "And the rest of my jyuunishi?"

"There were some awkward moments, but we gave nothing away." Shigure responded to which Akito smiled. "Do you, or the others, wish for her know?"

The dog hesitated with his answer and the head smiled mischieviously before pushing Shigure on his back towards Samantha.

Unluckily he wasn't able to stop himself before he ran into Sam, then fell to the ground together. It was only a few seconds before he transformed.

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Dun dun dun! Sorry that was a really bad cliffie... but I promise to get the next chapter up soon!

Thanks to everyone for being so patient with me! I appreciate it!

Just FYI, after August school starts so be ready for monthly updates... hopefully! Sry!

Thank to my reviewers:

Dolphindreamer, Winter's Light, Tuki and Yanikei

If anyone wants me to do a Random Omake Scene to celebrate our 49 reviews please message me!

Dont forget to review!

sya,

mijichan


	14. Major Troubles

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 14

Welcome back everyone! Suprised to see me again so soon? Awww... hugs and kisses!

Anyways... enjoy!

Samantha waved away the grey smoke that had suddenly appeared in front of her and looked around for Shigure. However, the first sight that met her eyes was a smirking and amused-looking Akito watching someone, or something, next to Sam.

She followed his gaze and came eye-to-eye with a large black dog with deep brown eyes, one that she had seen somewhere very recently…

"You're the dog from that day at my office!" Sam declared loudly, pointing at the animal. Akito frowned and took a few steps towards the pair, alternating between glaring at the dog and studying Sam for a response. After no one spoke for a few minutes Akito declared, "Either you tell me exactly what happened Shigure or I will go wake Hatori and she will have her memories erased right this minute."

The dog whined pitifully, stood up and walked over to stand next to Akito who glared down at him. "Well?" He asked angrily and impatiently.

Sam, who had been watching doubtfully- after all, dogs couldn't speak- was amazed when she heard Shigure's voice, however low, coming from the dog's mouth. Akito responded heatedly and then, after glaring with disgust, stomped away further into the Sohma compound.

When Akito disappeared through what Sam remembered Shigure had called the 'inner gate,' the dog turned partially back towards her then said, "I'm sorry about this Sam, but we have to return to Hatori's house," then started walking back down the path and Sam followed him after a few hesitant seconds.

They arrived on the steps of the dragon's house after a quiet, awkward walk. The dog, Shigure, walked up and through a small dog-door within the door, and Sam turned the doorknob and let herself in, closing the door behind her. She walked blindly down the hall in the dark and made her way into the only lit room within the hall.

Inside was Shigure, lying on the couch looking dejected, while Momiji sat cross-legged on a chair near a desk reading a book that he seemed very interested in. Only Momiji looked up as she entered, and then looked at her with a sad smile, as if he knew exactly what had happened.

The boy waited until she had sat down on a chair before he spoke. "We didn't expect this to happen Samantha, and I apologize for what might happen after this."

Sam started, surprised at how sober he sounded, but managed to smile. "Is it really that horrible a thing Momiji?" The boy just shook his head hopelessly and didn't continue the conversation. On the couch the dog sighed noisily and leaped off of the furniture, and walked across the room explaining, "I'm going to go wake Hari, he needs to know." Then left the room and the two could hear his claws clicking on the wooden floor.

They sat in silence, Sam staring at the opposite wall wondering what on earth was happening, and Momiji alternating between reading the book and feeling very tense and worried.

A few minutes later Shigure, now back in human form wearing his yukata again, and Hatori sleepily rubbing his eyes and yawning re-entered the room both looking worried. Their eyes first fell on Samantha who smiled calmly back and Shigure walked over to sit next to her, while Hatori shushed a curious, energetic Momiji, speaking to the boy in a quiet whisper.

Finally, the dragon straightened again and glanced, then nodded, at Momiji. The rabbit walked over to the door then paused uncertainly. Hatori jerked his head at Shigure towards Momiji, the dog pouted but when Hari continued looking at him sternly he finally gave in and stood up, then walked over to Momiji and followed him out.

Once they were gone, Hatori sat in the chair the rabbit had vacated and turned towards Samantha, who raised her eyebrows expectantly, then yawned.

"You have horrible timing." He commented, stretching. Sam shook her head, "if you mean Shigure turning into a dog that was Akito's fault. He pushed Shigure."

Hatori opened his mouth, closed it a few seconds later, then shook his head. "I should have guessed that, Shigure wouldn't have been so careless." Sam remained quiet, choosing not to comment. "Alright then, the reason Shigure turned into a dog is that thirteen members of the Sohma family are cursed to turn into the animals of the Chinese zodiac when 'embraced' by a member of the opposite sex. Shigure, obviously, is the dog, I am the dragon, Momiji is the rabbit and basically every other Sohma you've met is one of the cursed."

Sam stared at him awestruck. "C-cursed? But that's only in the old fairy tales…" She stopped, looking away and silently finishing her thoughts.

The dragon smiled sadly, "I wish that was true, then none of us would have to suffer so much." Sam looked surprised, but managed to say, "I'm sorry that you have to suffer, no one should."

"That's what we hope for." Hatori commented, but then there was a loud knock on the door and he stood up and left the room to answer.

A few minutes later he came back in, looking even more worried then before. "Akito wants to see me Sam, I have to leave. Please don't let Shigure or Momiji come after me." Hatori yawned again, then left once more, this time closing the door behind him.

Sam was left alone in the room, sitting on the couch while staring at the opposite wall. After an hour or so when _still_ no one came back, she finally stood up and began pacing back and forth on the Oriental rug lining the floor, thinking over about what had happened in the past hours.

It took another hour until the pleasing sound of the front door opening came to her ears. Sam waited with bated breath until the door to the room she was in opened, and Hatori walked in looking sad, angry and worried all at one time.

Curious, and worried for his welfare, she went up to him and asked, "Hatori what's wrong? Why did Akito want to see you?"

He sighed and ran his hand through his long hair, "Tonight everything is going wrong." Hari looked up at her, "I'm sorry about this Sam, but," he shook his head and muttered something under his breath then continued.

"Akito doesn't wish for you to know about our curse Sam or the Sohmas in general. I'm sorry, but,"

His voice caught and Sam realized that something was going to happen, other then her not working with Ayame or Yuki any more. "Hatori?" She questioned quietly.

"I'm sorry Sam, but after this, you won't remember us." The dragon leaned towards her and put a hand against Sam's forehead…

"Hari, no!" Shigure shouted from the door.

… and erased Samantha's memories.

He caught the woman as she fell to the floor unconscious, holding her in his arms but not close enough to cause a transformation. The dragon continued to hold her as Shigure rushed up to them, and together they carried Sam to the couch and laid her on it.

"Hari, how could you!" Shigure demanded from his place at the foot of the couch. "You know how important Sam is- uh, was to Yuki and Aya!"

Hatori hung his head, "Akito told me to Shigure, he ordered me to."

"You could said no, he needs to hear it once in a while." Shigure scolded, glancing at Sam.

"I couldn't Shigure," the dragons voice broke and tears threatened to fall, "he, Akito threatened Kana."

Shigure's mouth formed an 'o' and he quietly stood up, walked over to his cousin and wrapped an arm around his cousins shoulders. "I'm sorry Hari."

"What will we do about Samantha?" Hatori asked worriedly, sighing. The dog shook his head, "The usual I suppose, but what about Aya and Yuki?"

Hari smiled wickedly, "There's always Yinari."

A little less then an hour later Sam woke up to find herself in a strange room. She slowly sat up to see that the room was actually an office, and a man wearing a suit was sitting at a desk on the other side of the room.

The man suddenly tensed then turned in the chair, and Sam found herself staring into olive-green eyes. "I-I'm sorry, but who are you?" She asked stuttering.

He smiled reassuringly at her and wheeled his chair over next to her. "I'm a doctor, you collapsed outside the grounds and I wanted to make sure that you were alright."

Sam blushed, "Oh, well thank you very much." There was an awkward pause, "I'm sorry, I should introduce myself. Samantha Dalton." She said, extending a hand.

The man took it and gripped her smaller hand firmly, "Hatori," he paused, "Sohma." She blushed again, "It's nice to meet you. Listen Ms. Dalton, do you know someone who can pick you up and take you home?"

She frowned, "Well yes, but I can get home on my own, I assure you."

"I'm sure you can, but it would be safer if someone went with you. In case you collapse again or something along those lines." Hatori suggested.

"Ah, well yes I do actually. A friend of mine, her name's Yinari. She should be able to come by." Sam told him enthusiastically, biting her lip nervously. Hatori nodded, that made him worry, of course it had to be Yinari. Hopefully this wouldn't cause any _more_ problems, but knowing Yinari…it would.

A hour later Yinari had been called and agreed to pick Sam up outside the Sohma compound. Hatori quietly led Sam out of the house and down the sidewalks. Out on the grounds it was as if life had stopped because of this one event; there was no one walking or standing and no lights were on in any of the houses they passed.

The odd pair came out of the gate just as a car pulled up to their side if the street. When the car had come to a stop the passenger window let out a sharp 'buzz' and slowly rolled down; then suddenly a head appeared in the darkness beyond the window.

"Hari! How've you been? And Sam, I didn't know you knew the Sohmas." The woman clucked her tongue, "you should have told me."

Sam looked puzzled. "'Nari, you know Hatori-san?" She asked while looking between the two. Her friend's eyes widened suddenly and looked meaningfully at Hatori who nodded solemnly. Yinari's mouth formed into an 'oh' and she quickly backtracked. "Yes, but only because he's Haru's cousin." At Sam's confused look she added, "You remember Haru, one of my clients? The one with black and white hair?"

She said this in such a rush that Sam could only nod in reply. Hatori gently walked with her up to the car and helped her into the front seat. When the door was closed the dragon leaned on the side of the car and instructed Yinari through the window, "Take care of her Yinari, make sure she's okay." He glanced at Sam who was sitting staring off at space, her eyes vacant. "Call me if something happens."

Yinari grinned, glancing at her friend. "Sure thing Hari, but can I call you just to bother you?" She laughed when Hatori scowled at her. "No," he growled.

"Fine." She waved, rolled up the window and pulled back out into the street. As she drove, Yinari tried to think positively about the situation.

"Samantha will be alright, she's always been strong." But when she glanced at her friend her thoughts changed. "Right?"

Yinari is cortesy of Yanikei, who is also my beta-reader! Arigatou!

So, you like it? Yes she got her memories erased of the Sohma's. I was contemplating her not being able to have them erased, but then decided it would be more fun to write if she had. So please no flames about it... I'm sorry!

As for reviews... Only three? C'mon! I used to be so popular (goes into corner and sulks) If you don't mind, would you please review?

(Thanks to DesirePassion, Yanikei and Tuki for reviewing! THANKS SO MUCH!)

I know I said I'd do an omake theater, but I've been sick and my brains on hold... so next time. Promise.

Ja ne

miji-chan


	15. Reactions

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 10

Welcome back everyone! Sorry to make y'all wait for so long... XD Well please enjoy yourselves! See ya at the end!

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It had been a week since Samantha had lost her memories and during that time, Yinari had kept a close eye on her, making sure Sam was nearby all the time she was home. 

Under her watchful eye, Sam seemed to be getting better; her eyes weren't as unfocused and she had mostly returned to her normal, cheerful self.

For the first time since that fateful night, Yinari had given Sam permission to go out by herself, although she could only stay out for an hour at most. At this statement Samantha had rolled her eyed and said, "thank you your Highness for giving this lowly commoner such rare permission." Yinari had laughed; glad her friend was normal again.

* * *

Currently Sam was walking along the main street outside thier apartment, taking in the sights, smells and sounds she had been missing for the last week. 

"Mmm! So lovely!" she broke the silence that had settled over the street, stretching her arms above her head. A few steps later, someone called her name from somewhere behind her and she stopped, waiting for the person to catch up.

A few seconds later, a white-haired, slim figure wearing a dress came into view beside her. He/she/it began speaking rapidly with complete familiarity to her. Confused, she waited for the speech to stop. When it didn't, she walked up to her/him/it and began waving her hands around in an artistic 'stop' gesture. "Please stop!" Sam demanded, annoyed.

He/she/it stopped talking and stared at her, golden eyes wide with surprise. "Sam? Are you all right dear? You look kind of, mmm, peakish."

A shiver ran through Sam's body and she stepped back, hands out in front of her. "How, how do you know me? Get away!" she shrieked and began backing away.

The man, she thought he was a man, stopped where he was and stared again. "Sam, what happened to you? Did you forget-"

Sam interrupted him, "how could I forget you if we've never met!"

He leaned forward, not moving his feet at all. "You don't remember me?" When Samantha didn't answer, he continued worriedly, "what about Gure, or Momiji, or Yuki?"

The woman slowly shook her head, wondering what this guy was talking about.

At her look the man blanched, but continued listing names, "Tohru? Hari? Haru?"

Sam looked like a light bulb had gone on over her head. "Hatori-san was the man who brought me to his office after he found me unconscious outside the compound, he said he was a doctor," she paused.

"Hatori-san?" The man echoed confused, "but you always called him 'Hari.'"

She ignored him and continued talking, "and I'm pretty sure Yinari has a client named Haru."

Her supposed friend stared, "You know Yinari?"

Sam nodded, "she's a friend of mine, for a long time now. How do you know her?"

"Hari's going out with her." The man stopped and peered studiously at her. "Have you really forgotten us?"

The woman glared at him, "I've never heard of most of those people, so how could I have 'forgotten!'"

With that last exclamation, she turned on her heel and stormed away down the street, leaving the white-haired man standing alone staring after her.

"Samantha," he whispered into the darkness.

* * *

Hatori was sitting in his office arguing with Shigure about Samantha, when they heard the front door slam open downstairs and then feet drumming on the stairs. A few minutes later Ayame burst into the room breathing heavily. 

The snake stood in the doorway for a few seconds before pouncing on the sofa next to Hari, his usual handsome face transformed into a scowl.

"Hari, what happened to Sam? I just saw her in the street and she didn't know who I was. Samantha darling had forgotten all about me! And Gure!" He pointed at the dog who tried to look innocent but failed.

Hatori sighed and shifted restlessly on his seat. "I'm sorry Ayame, but I had to." When Aya made a face at him, Hari continued. "Akito told me to, and he threatened to hurt Kana if I didn't." He winced.

"Hari," Aya cooed and wrapped his arms around his cousin, "I don't want to sound mean, but you need to get over Kana. She's gotten over you. She's married now! Follow her example."

Shigure shook his head, "Aya, that's because Kana forgot about our dear Hari." He also wrapped his arms around his cousin.

The dragon stiffened as his two cousins proceeded to drape himself or herself over him. After several minutes, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Oh get off, you two. There's no reason to be so overly dramatic and romantic about the whole thing."

Ayame and Shigure exchanged looks over his head. "But Hari, you're the one who looked like you were about to cry," Shigure pointed out, causing Hatori to fold his arms and lean back against the couch.

"Did not," he exclaimed childishly.

The snake cooed gently then shifted his position so he could wrap and arm around the man's shoulders and rest his chin on one. "But it's true," he whispered directly into the dragons ear.

Hatori made an argumentative noise but didn't reply.

Shigure smiled at his friend then plopped down on the couch to reassure his cousin. After a pause the dog commented, "You know Hari, we most definitely don't blame you about Sam."

"Hear, hear! I second that!" Aya agreed, raising an arm in agreement.

The dragon sat up slightly and asked, partially worried-unusual for him-, "are you sure. I know you and Yuki liked her Ayame."

"Don't you worry Hari, I wouldn't worry about it. Que sera sera," the snake replied.

The dog smiled playfully, "besides, there's always Yinari."

* * *

Yinari started as the front door to the apartment slammed, then heard someone walking loudly through the hall and then finally stopped in the same room as her. 

The woman looked up from her book to see, to her surprise and confusion, Sam standing nearby at the end of the couch.

"Sam? What's wrong?" She questioned her friend who looked as if she would either cry or shout in shock or anger.

Sam did neither, however. "I-I just met someone in the street a few blocks away from here. But the weird thing is that he insisted that I knew him, even though I've never seen him before."

Something twisted sharply in Yinari's stomach and she swallowed harshly before asking curiously, "what did this person look like? At least I would guess that it was a human being." She joked, her sense of humor kicking in to mask her surprise and worry.

Sam scowled at her friend, then answered, "He, at least I think the person was a man (it was hard to tell), had very long white hair-but he wasn't aged, actually he was our age I think. It made him very handsome, along with bright, gold eyes and a lively, energetic-personality." The scowl had turned into a soft smile during her description. "All of it was fine, except that he continued on insisting that I knew him. And a lot of other people. He knew Hatori-san and... Do you have a client named Haru?"

During her friends speech Yinari had tuned out slightly after she had realized, and said to herself disgustedly, "Ayame. Of course, it was him, but I'm surprised the mutt wasn't with him. And why didn't he know that Hari had-"

"'Nari? 'Nari are you alright?" The woman looked up to see Sam standing above her and waving a hand in her face.

"Huh?" She replied dedicatedly.

Her dark haired friend smiled teasingly, "if you keep zoning out like that 'Nari I'll have to take some physical action." She leaned forward threateningly. "Perhaps a light thwack on the head once in awhile."

Yinari began to smiled-and laugh- at that, glad that Sam was visibly recovering from the tragic event, but then realized the origin of the 'head-thwacking:' Hari, Shigure and Ayame. "'Thwack on the head''?" She echoed, playing dumb, and innocent.

Sam nodded agreeably, "mm-hmm, it's just what you need every once in a while. Now, what do you think about that person who met me in the street?"

Luckily, before Yinari was forced to come up with an original, yet believable, response, the phone rang.

She quickly swung her legs off the couch, stood up and told her friend, "I'll get it Sam-you sit down, you look like you'll faint at any minute." Then Yinari ran off to the study to answer the nearest telephone.

"Hello?" She questioned after closing the door behind her and cautiously picking up the phone.

"Hello, Yinari," came Hatori's normal stoic voice from the other end.

"Hari? Why're you calling?"

There was a loud sigh, "to get away from Ayame and Shigure, they're driving me crazy."

"Don't they always?" Yinari questioned with a laugh.

Hatori responded with a gruff laugh, "yes."

Between them, there occurred a short, friendly-thoughtful silence until the woman said quietly, "Why were they stalking and talking you to death?"

The other conversationalist paused for a while until he answered softly, a change from the usual unemotional tone, "the two of them won't stop commenting, or telling me, that they don't blame me for what has happened to Samantha." He paused again, longer this time, "how is she?"

Yinari sighed, and turned to gaze at the door. "Fairly well, I think. She seems to be recovering, but sometimes Sam doesn't act like she really feels." She sighed again.

"I'm sorry Yinari."

The woman shook her head, not that he could see, "It wasn't your fault Hari-it was Akito's." She smiled softly, "this is one of those times that you _should_ listen to Aya and Gure."

"Humph, why would anyone sane do that?" Hatori questioned scornfully.

She laughed. "Good question." The woman paused thoughtfully then said, "I don't blame you either Hari. Sam's fine, don't worry about her."

Their conversation lapsed into silence once again.

"Hari, this afternoon-when I let Sam out of the house for the first time since, well you know what-she told me that a man with long, white hair and gold eyes approached her in the street insisting that she knew him," Yinari informed the dragon who listened intently.

When she was done, Hatori sighed loudly, "Yes, Ayame told me about their meeting. He was quite adamant about how Sam had forgotten him, and the other Sohma's. I told him that no matter what his personality was, he had to get over himself."

The woman was about to reply with amusement about how that would never happen when there came a soft knock on the door.

"Hari, hang on a minute," she told the phone, and then put it to her chest. "Yeah?" Yinari asked the door.

A soft voice replied, "'Nari?"

In her head the woman cursed, then set the receiver down on the table and turned to face the door, hiding the phone behind her back. "Yeah Sam, come on in."

The knob turned, lock clicked and then opened to reveal a shy Sam standing in the doorframe.

"Is it-"

Yinari nodded quickly, "yeah, no problem." Silently she watched with a sad air as the usually publicly showy woman slinked through the door to stand a few feet into the room, staring at the floor. "I guess I was wrong."

"Um, well, I-" Sam stuttered hopelessly.

Her friend asked helpfully, "Is something wrong, Sam? Did something happen?"

The dark-haired woman slowly shook her head, "no, not really. I just-"

"Yes?"

Sam shook her head, "never mind. I disturbed you, I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone." She reluctantly turned around and went back out the door.

"Wait! Sam, hold-" Yinari called after her friend, but the door shut before she finished. Sighing heavily, she faced the table again then slowly picked up the phone and held it to her ear.

As soon as he heard her again, Hatori asked, "What happened Yinari?" For once, the dragon sounded sincerely curious.

The woman said sadly, "I'm not sure Hari, but I was wrong about Sam. She's not really alright."

Sounding worried, her boyfriend asked, "What, do you mean she's sick?"

"I thought you said that you don't take on non-Sohma's as patients Hari," she replied playfully, and then sighed when there was no answer. "Well not sick exactly, but its something to wonder at. I was sure she had recovered to her usual, cheery, enthusiastic and playful self, but she was just in here," Yinari explained, worried.

"What gives you that idea?" The dragon questioned, and the woman could hear background noise from his end.

She sighed and spoke slightly louder to be sure that he could hear her. "When she came in, instead of bursting in like she usually did, Sam knocked softly then meekly entered when I answered and proceeded to stand with her back to the door while staring at the ground. She's never acted like that!" Yinari finished exasperated.

On the other end Hatori sighed, "It's just an effect from the memory-erasing, Yinari, Samantha should recover soon."

"Yes, but how soon is soon?" She groaned, raising a hand to her head in frustration.

The dragon obviously understood her emotion, "I wish I knew. Most of the time the recovery time varies by the person." The background noise from before became louder and Yinari could extract voices from within the noise. She heard Hatori turn and say something to the noisemakers that immediately quieted whoever it was.

"You've _told_ me that Hari, but it won't stop me from worrying. She's my friend, but not the friend I remember." The woman replied, having trouble explaining herself.

Being ever thoughtful, Hari asked, "Do you want me to come over and see her?" Then his voice came again, further away and muffled, "be quiet you two, just for this once."

Yinari laughed at this event, "Shigure and Aayme again?" She questioned curiously. The woman could almost visualize him scowling.

"Who else?" He asked sternly, but then his voice became softer. "Should I come over and see Sam?"

The woman thought on this question for a few minutes until she finally replied, "thanks, but no thanks Hari." She sighed, "I should probably go see if Sam's alright."

"I'll call you later." Hatori promised, and then the noise in the background (Yinari guessed it was Ayame and Shigure again) increased on many levels and the dragon began scolding them monotonously.

She laughed a the telephone came down and set it down on the receiver with a soft clunk then the woman turned to lean against the table and sigh.

After a few minutes of silence, there came, once again, a soft knock at the door.

"'Nari?" Came Sam's soft voice from the hallway.

Yinari quietly cursed, but then walked slowly over to the door and opened it, "Sam, hi."

Her friend looked down at the floor and wrung her hands. She was obviously troubled, yet not saying a word in response.

She leaned in over the door threshold. "Are you alright?"

"Um, well, I," Samantha stuttered hesitantly. Yinari slowly reached over and gently hugged the flustered woman.

"What's wrong Sam? What's eating you?" She asked after releasing her friend.

Sam shook her head and lowered it towards the ground, "I-I'm not sure. I just feel like-"

"Like what?" Yinari pressed.

But the hesitant woman didn't answer, so the two stood in a tense silence for a few minutes.

Finally, Yinari lean in towards her friend and repeated softly, "like what Sam?"

"Like-" She drew out the word, sighing at the end. "Like I'm forgetting something, something big," the woman finished depressed.

When she heard her friend's words, Yinari's stomach did a large flip. Was Sam remembering about the curse, or what had happened between her and the Sohma's? She shook her head and silently scolded herself, Hari wouldn't let something like that happen. It would have been something else…Yinari hit her head with a hand; of course… it was Ayame's fault. He was the one who had talked to her in the street, causing Sam to become upset and worried.

"Don't worry about it Sam, it's probably nothing." She replied reassuringly, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders.

But Sam wasn't as sure, "yeah, but still I-"

"I told you not to worry about it Sam, I don't want you to upset yourself over this." Yinari pressed, playing the mother figure.

"Mm."

Her friend sighed when the words had no effect. Maybe she would try another tactic. "Alright Sam, enough of you being difficult. I have an idea, how about you come to work with me tomorrow?" When Sam opened her mouth to comment, Yinari continued, "but I don't want you doing any work, you'll just sit on the couch in my office and keep me company, got it?"

Sam nodded meekly, "yeah."

Yinari smiled and drew her friend into a hug. "Maybe we can find something to cheer you up a little."

* * *

Awwwwwww, poor Sam. Don't worry, she'll get better... eventually. XD. But anyways I really enjoyed writing this chapter... it was fun. Actually I didn't write it as much as the chars helped me write it. Great experience.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I appreciate all the comments, suggestions and ego-boosting compliments. XD

If anyone would like to read my NaNoWriMo novel (which I'm not even CLOSE to finishing) the first 'chapter' is under my account of "elfenchild" on fictionpressDOTcom. Please read it if you wish and I would appreciate reviews.

If anyone is wondering about my other fics... they ARE COMING! I'm in the process of writing most of them, and hope to have a major update after christmas break (second week of January).

I think thats it...

Please don't forget to review! (I'm asking you nicely!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

ja ne,

mijichan


	16. Confrontation at Work pt 1

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 16

O.o We're to 16 chapters already, I can't believe it! I hope I'm doing well so far. Um, thats all for now.

Please don't forget to read and review! puppy dog eyes

Oh! And please read the important **authors note** at the end! It's really important!

* * *

Way too early the next morning, the loud and insistent beeping customary of a standard alarm clock sounded off in extremely close quarters to Yinari's ear. She growled and pulled a pillow over her head, but of course the machine wouldn't shut up- instead, it seemed to feel affronted, and beeped louder. With a loud groan the woman rolled to the edge of her bed, teetering as she began blindly hitting at the area the noise was coming from. Purely by chance, she struck the alarm clock, not only shutting it up but causing the damn thing to fall to the ground with a loud clatter.

Beside her, Sam moaned and shifted position on the hard mattress, causing her to abruptly wake up. Tiredly she opened her eyes and turned her head to look at her friend, "Nari?"

Yinari frowned blearily at the sight of the alarm clock on the floor, then sat up slowly. "Well, that didn't work. Sorry Sam, I didn't think it'd fall."

"Don't matter," the blonde replied stretching. "I'll go cook breakfast then," she announced, rolling to the edge of the bed.

"Be careful Sam, you might…"

With a shriek Samantha fell off, landing with a "thud" on the floor in a tangled heap.

"…fall." The Australian sighed and slid to the side of the bed where she could look down at Sam. "Are you alright?"

Her bruised friend frowned through the strands of blonde hair covering her face, "Yeah. Sheesh, am I a klutz or what?"

Yinari didn't comment… it was usually her being the klutz. "How about we go out for breakfast? At this rate you'll burn down the entire apartment."

She half expected Samantha to laugh and insist that she could cook-despite the teasing-like all the other times, but instead of the usual laugh there was a gloomy scowl, and the sense of humor disappeared, replaced by sadness and perhaps even the more serious depression.

Her worried friend slowly slid off the bed and kneeled in front of her friend to embrace her in a friendly hug. "It's alright, Sam. I have an idea, why don't you go take a shower… it might help you wake up and all."

The English woman obediently nodded and stood up, then after grabbing her bathrobe, made her way slowly out of the room.

After waiting to make sure that her friend had really gone away to the bathroom, Yinari rolled back to the opposite side of the bed and picked up the phone. She quickly dialed a number that she had memorized a long time ago, then impatiently waited as it rang shrilly in her ear.

"Psychiatrists For You, this is Akina speaking. How can I help you?" asked a voice, sounding very bored and tired for still so early in the morning.

"Good morning Akina-chan!" Yinari replied with false cheer, knowing it would annoy the secretary.

Just as every other time, Akina groaned loudly and said, with a lot less energy, "Oh, it's you."

Yinari mock-pouted, not that the other woman could see, and whined, "Aw, Akina-chan that's so mean!"

"Whatever. How about telling me what you want? I have a game on pause."

A loud sigh crackled through the phone, "You're no fun. Anyways, I called because me and Sam-"

"Sam and I," corrected Akina the grammar Nazi.

"Sure," Yinari agreed peacefully. Too early in the afternoon to argue. "Well we're going to come in, but not for the whole day. Sam isn't up to it, I don't think." Yinari explained, listening for her friend on the other side of the door.

Akina sighed, "wonderful. I'll have to deal with both of you then." The Australian could visualize her kneading her forehead furiously at this. "What's wrong with Samantha?"

Yinari sighed, "she's kind of in a depressive-gloomy mood at the moment because of- well, I can't say." She switched the phone to her other ear and laughed, "but I'm sure she'll be back to her happy, energetic self in no time!"

"Great," said the secretary with loosely veiled sarcasm.

There were noises from down the hall, and Yinari could hear Sam opening and closing doors, "I have to go Akina, see you soon!"

"Yinari, wait-"

She quickly turned the pone off and hid it under the pillow as her friend walked back into the room. "Nice shower, Sam?" the woman asked, leaning back against the headboard of the bed.

Sam nodded, throwing her dirty PJ's into the hamper and redressed with a casual combination of a t-shirt and jeans. "Are you going to shower?"

"If you make coffee."

The t-shirted women, knowing her friends obsession with caffeine wisely nodded. "Sure, you want it strong and black?"

Yinari nodded eagerly, grinning crazily. "Yes, yes, yes!"

* * *

An hour later the two friends, and psychiatrists, were fully caffeinated, dressed and showered. They shouldered their purses (Well, Sam did anyway. Yinari opted for a bag that could actually hold all of her junk) and left..

They walked down the street together, side by side, the Australian keeping a close eye on her friend while elbowing through the massive Japanese crowds. Sam had to keep up in her wake or be lost forever in the crush.

Finally the two arrived at the building where they worked, and Yinari held the door open for the both of them. "Here we are!" she announced happily, struggling to keep the door ajar while keeping her bag on her shoulder- it kept sliding off.

Sam gave her a mild glare as she slipped through the door and inside the main floor of the office. A group of people came in and out past her as she stood on the old, worn carpet of the entranceway.

Yinari gently took her friend by the elbow and led her towards the elevators that were located in the corner of the room. It was nearly almost empty now, either there weren't many clients there that day, or employees were skipping the day off.

"Morning Ji-san!" she called out as she dragged Sam, who didn't wave to the man manning the main administrative desk of the building, over to the machines. But when they got there, a large sign was taped to the doors of every elevator that read, "Out of Order" in big, red letters.

Sam stood in front of them, then shrugged off her friends hand and commented quietly, "what now?" while she read the sign over and over again.

"God, what next! Why today of all days!" Yinari yelled loudly, raising her fists into the air and barely restraining herself from punching the elevator door. She groaned loudly then turned sharply on her heel and stomped across the floor grumbling under her breath the entire way. "I can't believe this! Why the hell are the elevators out?"

Ji looked sympathetically at her, then gave Sam a humorous smile as if to say, "sorry about this," as if it were his fault.

Sam shook her head as she followed her friend across the hall to where the stairs that led to upper floors were. "Never mind, Ji," she replied quietly, and then continued to meekly walk up the also carpeted stairs behind the fuming woman.

They went up flight after flight, turning sharply around each corner and then sighing tiredly before continuing on their upward journey.

* * *

After what seemed like an hour, they finally made it to the floor where their offices were located.

Panting and wheezing the two women stumbled up the last few steps before collapsing against the wall in an effort to catch their breath and regain composure.

From the secretary's desk against the lobby wall, a voice addressed them sarcastically, "well, well. Look who finally decided to show up."

They slowly walked together into the room, still stumbling and laughing, to see Akina sitting up right in her comfortable, cushioned chair.

"Relax Akina, we're here aren't we?" When the secretary continued to look doubtfully at them, eyes narrowed and lips pursed, Yinari tried bribing the woman. "Oh do come on Akina, don't be ridiculous. Boss isn't here, is he?" She sighed mock-impatiently, "alright, I'll let you play on my Xbox for two hours."

Akina raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Fine, five hours. Last offer." She amended jokingly.

The secretary nodded in agreement, "fine." Then she pretended to look at the client schedule for the day. "You have a client in fifteen minutes," Akina told Yinari informatively.

"What about me?" questioned Sam, walking up to stand beside her friend.

Akina glanced quickly at Yinari, and then replied to Sam's question, "No, you don't have anyone today. Your whole schedule's free."

The English woman pursed her lips doubtfully, but didn't voice her suspicions. Instead she turned to her friend. "So, what exactly are we doing here Nari? Why'd you drag me here so early?"

Butting in, the secretary commented, blinking, "It's almost noon."

"Yes, early."

"Early," parroted Yinari agreeing with a nod of her head.

Akina shook her head at the both of the both of them, and then rested her head on the desk, the schedule still open.

The mischief-makers exchanged knowing looks, and then Yinari led her friend into her office.

Well, after she opened the long-locked door of course.

When it was open, Sam paused in the doorway searching for a place to sit under all the papers, junk and miscellaneous items that cluttered the office furniture and ground.

While her friend searched the office, Yinari stepped carefully over the heaps of avoided paperwork and stacked client folders to collapse in the comfortable, spinning chair placed conveniently behind her desk. She then proceeded to twirl that piece of furniture until she become very dizzy.

Finally the English woman gathered enough courage to walk into the room, wander through the sea of junk and stop in front of the couch. She sighed irritably, then reached down, picked up a tall pile of heavy, boring, educational books, and dumped them into the already overflowing floor.

"Nari, how often do you clean your office?" Sam asked, plopping down onto the couch and swinging her legs up to rest on top of an unstable tower of books.

"Sam!" Whined her friend, putting a hand to her forehead to show how hurt she was, and to help her dizziness, "you know I clean my office…" at Sam's look she finished that sentence with a hesitant, "once a month."

"At the most," the distraught women commented, then sighed and closed her eyes, placing an arm behind her head.

A few minutes later she had fallen into a half-asleep state on the couch, and Yinari was entranced by the game she was playing on her computer.

* * *

Sam was actually nearly asleep when a sudden burst of noise came from the lobby. She heard Akina's soft, sarcastic voice reply with what was probably a scathing remark, and then that loud person shout back at her.

Perhaps to stop the wildness, Yinari pushed her chair back, after exiting the game with an annoyed sigh, and stormed out of the office, slamming the door shut behind her.

"I told you she was in there you damn woman! Now you have proof!" A teenage boy's voice yelled, but he was cut off, and soon after made a strangled yell.

"Don't yell, Kyonkichi, and especially not at poor Akina-chan." Yinari's voice scolded, her tone even.

"I'm not poor!" Akina protested, adding her two-cents to the conversation.

"Don't call me that!"

"Then don't yell."

"She lied to me!"

"So?"

That question was met with a definite silence: Kyonkichi obviously didn't have a response to that. Sam smiled to herself; Yinari was one of the best debaters she knew.

"Kyon-Kyon! What a privilege it is to see you here!" Called a loud, extremely cheerful voice, then there was a loud thud and a chorus of resigned sighs.

"Get offa me!"

"Oh Kyon-Kyon, you're not happy to see me?" the once cheerful voice asked sadly, whoever it was, was obviously pouting.

"No! When am I ever?"

"Be nice to Ayame, Kyonkichi. He's family for you after all."

"I don't care! Family or no, he's annoying!"

There was another droning silence, then another thud whose impact shook the wall near to Yinari's office.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

A new, cold voice entered the conversation. "That was because you were being annoying."

"What did you say, ya damn rat!" The angry voice of Kyon-Kyon threatened, at the loudest level yet.

A few seconds later, "Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Let go woman!"

Sam grinned, Yinari's infamous, painful ear-squeeze. It hurt, a lot. She almost felt sorry for this Kyonkichi.

"Excuse me? I don't believe that's my name." Ouch. Yinari's fake-sweet voice. Poor Kyon-Kyon, whoever that was.

"Rrrr," was the torturees' responsive growl, gaining noise as it continued.

"Quiet, Kyon."

"Ow!"

"Quiet."

"Yinari," came Akina's soothing, sane voice, "since your client, who you are currently torturing, is here, maybe you should begin the session." There was a pause before she added, "just an idea."

"Yinari darling," cooed the energetic, loud voice, "mmph!"

"Stop talking brother."

"All of you be quiet," instructed Yinari patiently. "Now Ayame and Yuki, would the two of you tell me, in less then a sentence if you please, why you're here? This early, this early in the morning, and this early in the morning at _my damn workplace_??"

Long pause.

"We're here for a session with Miss Samantha. I thought you knew, Miss Saisuke," explained the cool voice.

What? But she didn't recognize their voices, so how could she possible be their psychiatrist?

"Oh, um, well."

Sam had never heard Yinari speechless before, this was odd.

"What's wrong, Miss Saisuke?"

"Well, I'm afraid that Sam isn't your psychiatrist anymore. At least, it's not really possible anymore."

"Why ever not, such a pretty, smart young lady-"

"Quiet you." Yinari sighed loudly, "Ask Hari if you really want to know. He knows all about it."

"Hari!" The loud voice protested, surprised.

"Yes, Hari."

"Hey lady, can we get going yet? You're supposed to be a professional and you're taking forever!" Kyon exclaimed irritated, sounding impatient as well.

Sam could imagine her friend glaring daggers heatedly at the irritator and complainer in a pause.

"Sure, Kyonkichi, since the world obviously revolves around you!" Yinari replied, becoming irritated as well.

"And what should we do Miss Saisuke? Is Miss Samantha not well?"

Sam's fellow psychiatrist made a noise something between a groan and a sigh. "Does the group of you have any decent, working brain cells between all of you?" She made the same noise again. "Go on in Kyonkichi, since your cousins obviously need me."

Whoever "Kyonkichi" was, Sam heard him grumble some scathing remark, and then the door flew open.

She slowly opened her eyes, yawning tiredly, to see a young teenager with orange hair staring incredulously and surprised at her.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, sounding nearly ready to start yelling again.

Sam blinked at him, "Yinari's my friend, so I'm visiting her at work. Obviously."

They paused long enough, and quietly enough, that the two of them could hear the conversation going on outside in the lobby.

"So, what's happening here Yinari?"

"Many things, but it's mostly to do with Sam. She, well, do ask Hari if you want to know. It all just means that you won't be seeing her, in a professional sense at least. I'm sorry about all of this."

"There's no need to apologize Miss Saisuke, especially if it is not your fault."

"It isn't hers, its mine," replied a new voice as it entered the conversation, cool and reassuring.

"Hari!"

"Hari!"

Sam sat up straighter when she recognized the man's voice as belonging to Hatori Sohma-san, the man who had found her outside the Sohma estate and who had kindly treated her.

"Hatori? Why are you here?"

It sounded like everyone in he group outside the office was surprised to see Hatori-san, although Yinari sounded more delighted then surprised. Even the orange-haired teen had scowled before turning towards the open doorway and sticking his head out.

"I thought it would be a good idea to come visit. Yinari told me Samantha wasn't feeling well yesterday on the phone, so I thought I should see for myself her condition."

The orange-haired teen turned towards Sam and scowled at her, "you look fine to me." He replied irritably.

"I didn't say it, Yinari did." She paused to glare at him, "and Hatori-san just happened to agree with her."

"Hatori-san?" He echoed, confused.

"Kyonkichi! Stop bothering Sam!" Yinari's voice yelled from the lobby, causing Sam to smirk and the teen to scowl darker.

"I'm not! Bug off!"

"Is "Kyonkichi" really your name?" Sam asked, still smirking.

"Huh? No, its Kyo." He paused to stare studiously at her, leaning forward. "You should know that," the teen added.

"Kyonkichi!" Yinari called again warningly.

"I'm not doing anything!"

"Sure you're not!"

"Kyo, what are you doing?"

"Kyon-Kyon, you had better not be bothering that poor woman!"

"I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING TO HER! SHE'S JUST SITTING THERE!" The enraged teen shouted, causing his cousins, and Yinari, to wince and other present co-workers to rush out of their offices, asking what was going on.

"Nothings happening folks! Nothing to see here!" Yinari called sweetly, waving her arms around energetically in the air and hoping that they would all go away and back off.

One of the guys, of the few in the office, who was positioned closest to Yinari, called, "Are you sure Saisuke? That's a lot…"

"We're fine! Just go back to your work, I have everything under control!" The woman shouted back at him, would these people just take a hint and go away!

Inside the office Sam shifted uncomfortably on the couch. This wasn't good; Yinari was becoming upset and angry with her fellow co-workers. If this went too far…

The English woman tugged a book out from under the tall pile her legs were resting on and flung it at the teenager.

"Hey, Kyonkichi." Angrily, the orange-haired boy turned towards her glaring. But Sam was immune to all kinds of glaring, after living with Yinari for so long you got that way. "Go stop Yinari, or help her. Just go do something."

"Why'd I have to!"

Sam returned the glare full-force, "because you're the only one here, you're the only person I know the name of, and you look like you could handle Nari." Wait. _Handle _Nari? Oh well, he had a better chance at it than anyone else…

"But…" He sounded whinier now then protesting.

"GO," Sam ordered.

And the teen did go, eye narrowed and grumbling continuously under his breath. The part of it that the woman did hear sounded like he was complaining about being here at the office, about the people outside the room, and about Yinari.

"What a grumbler." Sam muttered under her breath, then leaned back against the end of the couch and closed her eyes.

Outside she could hear Kyonkichi speaking angrily to one of the group and the other replying coldly back. There were also the voices of Yinari and Hatori-san conversing with each other in quiet low tones so that the eavesdropper was only able to hear a few words form it.

But from what she did hear, it sounded like the two of them were very close. And Sam remembered that they had acted the same way that night when Hatori-san had found her and Yinari had come to pick her up from the Sohma estate. "Since when has Yinari had a love interest?" The English woman questioned silently, "and why didn't she tell me?"

"Oi, woman! Are we having a session or not? You're wasting my time here!" Kyo yelled loudly, frustrated. "He's probably mad at being ignored," Sam mused to herself.

"Relax Kyon, I'm getting there." Yinari's more patient voice informed the teen who grumbled in return. "If you're just going to stand there grumbling, go back into my office. I'll be there soon, so, even though it's hard for you, be patient."

"You're crazy! You're all crazy, but you woman, are the worst!" The orange-haired teen commented loudly, pointing forcefully at Yinari.

But a few seconds later he had reentered the office, scowling darkly. Kyonkichi glanced at Sam, and then stomped over to the couch and sat down heavily in the middle of a pile of papers, scattering them even further, then slouched down on the cushion.

"You should be nice and patient with Nari, she's having a bad week." The woman advised, not moving from her comfortable position, or opening her eyes.

The teen scowled harder and slouched further. "Like you aren't?"

Sam ignored that supposed jabbing remark; she wouldn't fall for an elementary insult like that. He must have thought she was simple if he expected her to respond.

Back in the lobby, Yinari was giving instructions to her surprise visitor group. "Yuki, Aya… I'm sorry, but since you aren't really patients here anymore, the two of you have to leave." There was a pause and then she spoke again, in a hush-hush kind of tone. "If I were you guys, I'd leave quickly-before Akina throws you out. Be careful of her, she used to be a world-record discus thrower."

The Englishwoman had to fight hard not to snort or laugh outright at that false piece of gossip, although a giggle did escape her mouth. Akina, a discus thrower? She couldn't even lift anything more then 50 pounds! The things that Yinari came up with.

However, it seemed that this Yuki and Aya were gullible enough to believe her because they quickly exited after that.

"Farewell my fair lady! It was a pleasure to be in your presences! Goodbye Hari! Do visit me soon!" Called the energetic, enthusiastic voice, becoming ore and more distant until he was barely audible.

"Goodbye Miss Saisuke. Goodbye, Hatori," said the ice cold voice in farewell, and then he also was gone.

There was silence out in the lobby, and in the office, until the cool voice of Hatori asked curiously, "what will you do now?"

"Well, Kyo's already here so I guess I could talk to him." Yinari sighed, "and Sam… well," she drifted off; leaving Sam to wonder just what her friend thought was wrong with her.

Hatori replied in a soft tone that the eavesdropper couldn't make out the words of, once again, and Yinari did the same.

* * *

A few seconds later, after hearing the soft click of a door closing, the Australian native walked in the doorway, then stopped, looking at the occupants of her office.

"Kyonkichi, stop slouching. Especially stop sloching on my books. And pick up the mess you made. Sam," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "go."

Her friend stated with wide eyes, "what?"

"You. Up. Out. Go." Yinari pointed at the door. "That way."

"W-why?"

Yinari spoke as if she were talking to a child, "because I have to talk with my client right now, and there's all that junk about patient confidentiality and all that, so…"

"But you said I could sit and stay in your office all day!" Sam protested, pouting slightly.

"I know darling, but you can't anymore. I'm sorry," she did sound somewhat sorry.

"Wait, what's all that nonsense about client confidentiality? She knows, doesn't she? So what's the point?" Kyo protested, pointing at Sam and talking all in a rush.

Yinari glared at him, "Quiet, Kyo," she scolded before turning to her friend again, "besides Sam, its not like your office is a dungeon or anything. Just go, and I promise you can come back after I'm done with Kyo."

"Fine, I'll just go sulk somewhere." Sam pouted further, then slowly got up and walked over to the door, slinking. Teasingly she turned back when she was at the doorway and gave her friend the "puppy-dog eyes" that Yinari couldn't resist.

"Sam! Stop it, all right? I'm sorry!" Nari complained, waving a hand dismissively at the English woman. ""Go to your office and lay down, I'll come find you."

Sam waved a hand over her shoulder and nearly quietly shut the door behind her, leaving Yinari and Kyo alone in the office.

"What's wrong with her, woman?" The orange-haired teen questioned, shifting position to lay comfortably on the couch.

Yinari walked over to her desk and squished behind it, then plopped down in the chair with a "whoosh" of air from the cushion. "Nothing Kyon. I told you, talk to Hari."

The teen scowled at her, "whatever."

* * *

After being exiled from her friends' office, Sam walked lightly down the hall to her office then stopped in front of it.

For a moment she paused there, taking deep breaths and calming herself. Then, she put her hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it, pushing the door open.

A man wearing jeans and a t-shirt was sitting in the chair behind her desk, and turned slowly as she walked in. A few seconds later Sam was able to recognize him as Hatori-san.

"Hello."

* * *

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!

girlish giggle Sorry... I just felt like I had to do that. I finally finished this chapter! Woo hoo!

Anyways... onto "serious" business...

About Ayame not commenting or mentioning that he knows about Sam's "condition"... I thought it would be better if he pretended like he didn't know. It would also give Yinari or Hatori a chance to explain there own words, without Aya's long-winded, self-admiring explaination. Trust me, I saved all of us a headache or two.

I know I mentioned that I would probably not be updating any of my stories until March... well the Senior paper hasn't been quite as stressful as I thought it would, so I have more free time. Suprisingly.

One little note: If anyone who goes to MA in MN has seen a black, five star spiral-bound notebook around the school that has writing in it that sounds like me. Please contact sutdent services. I would greatly appreciate it. Not that I'm sure anyone on here goes to MA, but its worth a shot, ne?

**And here's the author's note that is vitally important for all of you to read:**

**Author's note:** As of this update I will no longer be posting on my profile what the status of each of my stories is. To see this information please consult my homepage (there's a link above by my userID). I promise to post on it at least every other week. It is also a place where you can find out a little about my private life: an added bonus! (If anyone's thinking about any kind of romance... _please_. I have no romantic life _whatsoever_. No worries.)

Okay, now that that's over...

Oh, if anyone who reads any of my fics wishes my to read their story please send me the title, or the URL. I would be ever so happy to read them.

Also, if anyone's looking for a good story to read, please consult "my favorites" in my profile, all of those are exceptional.

**Now for my wonderful, extraordinary, fantastic reviewers:**

Thanks to: Tuki, Yanikei, PureShikon and DesirePassion!

Double thanks to Yanikei who is also my fabulous beta-reader! shouts/cheers of thanks, and roarous applause

That's it for now!

ja matta,

mijichan


	17. Confrontation at Work pt 2

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 17

Welcome back everyone!!!!!! Well, hope you like this chapter! Lots of changes were made by Ash-mouto-chan! So, please enjoy and don't forget to review!

* * *

Sam stared at the man in her office for several seconds, as thoughts of how she could get answers out of him without prying raced through her mind. "H-hello," she returned his greeting nervously, then scolded herself as she turned to shut her office door firmly. Why should she be nervous? Hatori-san was a wonderful man who was quite obviously in love with Yinari.

"Peaceful day at the office?" Hatori questioned, with what could be classified as a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

"Ha!" Sam exclaimed as she turned back to him and looked for a place to sit. The couch was free, so she skirted around the edges of the room to drop onto it. "There's no such thing as a peaceful day here."

Hatori nodded knowingly, as if he could understand what it was like to never have a peaceful moment. "Sounds like my work."

Wasn't Hatori-san a doctor, though? A GP? Yinari had said something like that, hadn't she? "But you're a doctor," Sam said out loud. "Don't you work from your house? I'd think you'd get a little peace, at least."

"Not really," Hatori said, sounding like he was remembering something annoying. "Because I work from home, Ayame and Shigure- two of my cousins- believe that I'm always free to do anything. They constantly burst in and disrupt me. It's hard to get work done.

"Oh," Sam commented in a monotone, her lips pressed tightly together.

The doctor looked worried at her reaction, and came to kneel in front of her. "Are you alright?" he asked, reaching out to place his wrist on her forehead.

"I'm fine," she snapped back quickly, pressing against the back of the couch in a subtle effort to get away.

Hatori, however wasn't convinced. "I'm a doctor," he said, pulling his hand away for the moment. "Don't lie to me about things concerning my profession."

Sam didn't hear his words, and even if she had, she wouldn't be taking much notice of them. The intense headache pounding her brain was instead the focus of her attention, the one that had started when Hatori had mentioned his cousins. It was much like the migraines she had once or twice a week when she was younger. Perhaps they were coming back.

"Samantha? You look pale, are you sure you're not ill?" She caught only a few words as Hatori's voice drifted in and out of her hearing. "Pale... you... ill." She opened her mouth to snap that she was fine at him, it was just a migraine, but none of the words would form in her mouth. She tried again, but only cried out as a new pain burst into her head, scattering any thoughts she had.

"Oooh," she groaned quietly, falling back against the couch. Several of her fingers were actually cooperating, and she futilely attempted to massage the pain away. It didn't work, and she groaned again.

Hatori gently moved her hands away, replacing them with his. He continued to massage her temples, wondering what she was reacting so severely to- the memories she had lost, or the sickness Yinari said she had? "Samantha, stay with me," he instructed, then paused when there was no answer. "Samantha! Samantha, just open your eyes and look at me. Just open your eyes, okay?"

She groaned again, softly, and sank into the couch while letting out a deep breath. Slowly, she opened one eye and let her vision adjust. Her other eye opened a few seconds later, so she was seeing Hatori in tired, weak stereo. "Hatori-san?"

He let out a quiet sigh of relief and lowered his hands, "Samantha, are you feeling better at all?"

Without thinking Sam shook her head, then winced when it brought on another burst of pain. "Ow."

Hatori sighed and ran a hand though his hair, "you need to be more careful Samantha, especially when you're sick."

The grey-blue eyes narrowed angrily, "I'm not sick. My being sick is just a little fantasy you and Nari created together."

"Samantha,"

"No, don't you 'Samantha' me. This is all your and Nari's fault. If you're having 'difficulties' then take it up with her. In the meantime, don't try and sweet-talk me. It won't help anything." Sam lectured angrily, pointing an accusing finger at him.

He sighed and leaned back on his feet. She could sure be temperamental sometimes. "Samantha, please. I don't want to test your health anymore then you already are. Especially if you're having painful headaches, as you obviously are."

"I'm fine." The woman replied sharply, emphasizing her condition.

Hatori stood up, straightened and gazed down at her sternly. "Samantha, you are clearly not fine. If you were fine then you would not be having migraines. If you were fine then you would not have collapsed in front of my house. If you were fine then you would not have had to stay at home for the last _week_ recuperating," he lectured her, raising his voice on every 'would not have.' When she only glared at him, the man sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets. "It was a bad idea for you to come into work today, Yinari should have known that."

Sam pushed away from the comfortable back of the couch to glare back at him, her hands tightly gripping the fabric of the couch. "Nari brought me here today because she thought it would help me feel better. She thought it would be nice if I was in a familiar place, and if we spent the day together."

The man blinked at her, "but she'll be with patients all day."

"I didn't know that!" She snapped at him irritably, "She didn't tell me!"

"Aha."

She started nervously, "'aha' what?"

He shook his head, "never mind. Yinari just said something earlier that confused me, but now it makes sense."

Sam glared at him then stared off to the side.

Hatori sighed, frowning. Samantha was behaving much differently then she had before he had erased her memory. "Samantha," he breathed quietly.

"I told you. Don't try and make me feel bad. I haven't done anything," she replied, still not meeting his eyes.

"There's no reason to be angry. I didn't mean to upset you." She laughed shortly, her only reply as she rolled her eyes. "Honestly. I can't say the same for my cousins, however."

"Cousins."

For a moment, Hatori looked confused, but then he hid it carefully. "All of the rowdy crowd out in the hall, Shigure, Ayame, Yuki and Kyo."

Sam winced as a fresh bout of pain pounded her head, and a bright light flashed across her eyes. The grip she had had on the cushion weakened then loosened completely as she fell sideways across the couch, unconscious.

"Samantha," Hatori whispered, moving forward to sit on the edge of the piece of furniture. The door creaked open and he looked up to see Yinari walking quietly in. He shushed her and she nodded then closed the door behind her with a soft 'click.'

"What happened?" she questioned, walking over to sit next to him, gazing down at her unconscious friend.

Hatori shook his head, and then leaned against her. "I'm not really sure. It has to do with her lost memories, but I don't understand why she's reacting this way."

Yinari wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "it's not your fault Hari."

"Sure it isn't, but I don't understand how this happened. It's a severe reaction, one I've never seen before." The man frowned, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Well, what happens?" His supporter clenched her fist, this didn't sound good for Sam.

He sighed, "Any time I mention the name of any Sohma she's ever met, she winces as if she's in pain, and rubs her forehead." Hatori groped for Yinari's hand, and when he found it gave it a gentle squeeze. "Her personality has changed; don't tell me you haven't noticed."

The woman squeezed his hand back and tilted her head on to his, "yes, I've noticed. It's hard not to. She's… changed."

"Yes she has. Well, you've been around her longer since… then." He sighed and adjusted his head on her shoulder.

"Sure, but that doesn't matter. I've just adjusted to it. That part was quick, she's much quieter now," Yinari commented hesitantly.

Hatori laughed, "except for her mood swings."

She blinked. "Mood swings?"

"Yes, unless she has MPD or something that is similar."

Nari pulled away to glare at him. "Speak English Hari; don't go all doctor-ish on me." To make her point she thwacked him on the back of the head,

"Ow! Fine, in plain English then, which I've been speaking in this entire time, I said that she has mood swings. Unless she has multiple personalities." He rubbed his head, "why wasn't I able to go, as you put 'doctor-ish,' on you when you're often 'miss psychiatrist' with me?"

The woman looked confused, then annoyed. "I do NOT!"

"Uh huh."

Yinari glared, "argh!"

Hatori frowned, "there you go again, getting mad at me for no reason."

"Do not!"

"You've said that."

She couldn't decide whether to knock him over the head with something heavy, or to yell at him until she became senseless, or voiceless.

"Now, about Samantha," the man began quietly, ignoring his companions silence.

"There's nothing more to say about Sam, Hari. She's stronger, she'll get over it." The woman reassured him, and then turned to blink at him. "I don't really go 'miss psychiatrist' on you?"

Hatori smiled, "no." He pulled her back against him and lightly kissed the top of her head, "not always," he joked. Yinari used her free hand to hit his head, a definite more-than-light tap. "Ow! You're so violent," he rubbed the spot she'd hit.

There was a groan from beside them and they both turned to see Sam blinking. "Wait 'til you're the victim of one of her ear grips, or her karate dummy, or,"

"I think he gets the point Sam," Yinari scolded, leaning over her friend worriedly.

"Heh."

The man smiled down at the pained victim, "do you mean that I have more to look forward to?" he teased, and then as he realised that he did in fact have more to look forward to, groaned. "Wonderful."

Yinari hit him again on the head, scowling.

"Geez Yinari, stop it." Hari pleaded, arms covering his head.

"You'd better stop it Yinari, otherwise he might not have any brain cells left afterwards." Sam scolded quietly, looking up at them with fixed blue-gray eyes.

That comment caused a hoarse laugh from Hatori, then a doubtful look from Yinari.

"It's true." Hari agreed, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek.

"Nari, shouldn't you be in your office talking to…" Sam paused as she tried to remember the orange-haired teen's name, "Kyonkichi."

Yinari blinked surprised, then answered quickly without thinking. "Kyo? He left with Shigure, just a few minutes ago. For some reason the mutt managed to appear after everyone was done with being loud."

Hatori smiled, "he's Shigure, of course he does. The guy knows how to avoid trouble."

What they didn't notice was Sam, who had collapse back onto the couch, groaning and pressing her fingers against the side of her forehead. She groaned again, arching her back. "Owwwww," the woman moaned, pushing her face into the arm cushion.

"Sam?" Her friend asked, putting a hand on the Englishwoman's shoulder and trying to turn her over.

The woman mumbled something into the cushion and groaned again, _wriggling_ around on the couch.

Hatori frowned, "this isn't good, and she's having another attack."

"You're the one who mentioned Kyo and Shigure out loud without thinking." Yinari scolded, glancing at Sam then back at her boyfriend.

"…which you just did."

She cursed quietly and leaned over her friend again, "Sam, Samantha, shhh." The Australian lightly ran her finger through the dark-blond hair, and whispered calming things.

"She'll be fine Nari."

Yianri frowned and shook her head, "I'm not so sure. Sam's…"

"I'm fine." The pained woman whispered hoarsely, not moving and continuing to hide her face.

"You don't look like you are, you aren't acting like you are," Hatori commented harshly.

Sam groaned and wrapped her arms around the cushion, bunching it into her face.

"C'mon Sam, you know you aren't okay." Nari protested, leaning into the back of the couch. "You haven't been alright all week."

"Thanks Nari, that makes me feel much better," the Englishwoman retorted sharply, turning to glare at her friend.

Yianri winced, avoiding the other woman's gaze. She was just telling the truth; Sam didn't have to bite her head off. "Sorry, Sam."

"Samantha, you shouldn't be upset with Yinari, she was trying to help. As a friend." The Sohma spoke on behalf of his girlfriend, hugging her reassuringly.

The woman glared at the two of them, then turned onto her side, away from them. "Of course you take her side."

Hatori sighed, "If you're not not unwell, then how do you explain these headaches you've been having?"

"It's from being around the two of you of course." Sam snapped, mumbling into the cushion.

The couple traded glance with each other, then looked back at Sam's back. "Saaaaaaaaam," Yinari scolded, drawing out the name.

She scowled, "don't 'Sam' me Nari. If something wrong with me, then it has to do with you."

"That's not-" Her friend began to protest but Hari stopped her.

"That's not important, what is important is that the two of you get along, figure out and solve the problem."

Sam snorted humorously, "Are you the psychiatrist here, because you're sure sounding like one."

"Samantha!"

Yinari growled softly in her throat and clenched her fists. "Bug off Sam! You're acting like a little brat!"

"Well maybe I'm confused and upset and _worried_ and I need help which you aren't giving me! You're leaving me in the dark and I don't want to be!"

During her rant, Sam had turned so she was facing the couple, and had then sat up, glaring with burning eyes at her friend and the near stranger.

"Sam, I," The Australian whispered surprised, but before she could continue her friend quieted her with a fierce glare.

Hatori played with her hair, "I'm sorry Samantha, and I didn't mean to make you feel that way."

He received a fierce scowl, "you have nothing to apologize for Hatori-san."

"I see."

"Be quiet Hari." Yinari scolded, hitting him lightly.

But the Sohma leaned away from her, avoiding the fist. "You're so violent."

Their squabble was interrupted when Sam jumped up from the couch, and walked towards the door, skirting around the couple.

"Sam! What!"

"Where are you going?"

Samantha scowled, reaching out to grip the doorknob, "away from you two." Then she turned the knob and flung the door open, to, a few seconds later, forcibly close it behind her.

The Australian frowned, staring at the exit. "That's not good."

"No, most definitely not." He squeezed her hand and then gently pulled away, standing up. "I'll go after her."

Yinari shook her head, "that might not be such a good idea."

"Doesn't matter, I'm going anyways." Hatori walked to the door, opened it and went out after taking a last glance at Yinari.

"Stubborn idiot. Stupid handsome, stubborn idiotic Sohma men," the woman muttered under her breath, resting her chin on her palm.

* * *

As soon as he came out of Samantha's office, Akina immediately began grilling him. "What happened in there?"

Hatori, who was halfway across the lobby, stopped and turned back, "what?"

"Is. Sam. Okay," the secretary repeated slowly, rolling her eyes.

The Sohma looked confused, "did you see where she went?"

"Will you answer my question?"

He sighed and shifted his weight, "I'm not sure how she is. Now where did she go?"

Akina twirled the pencil the pencil she was holding around her fingers at a blinding speed, indicating that she'd had a lot of practice at pencil-twirling. "Outside," she said in a casual tone of voice.

Hatori frowned at the secretary, obviously she knew more than she was letting on. "And?"

"You're losing time," Akina commented, still twirling the pencil.

"I know," Hatori said, frowning at the woman.

"You'd better leave."

"I know," Hatori repeated. The two stared at each other for a few long, silent minutes, before Hatori said, "Anything else to add to that?" privately thinking that for a secretary, she wasn't being very helpful.

"You don't know where to find her, do you?" The pencil came to a stop in her hand, the sharp tip held perfectly in a position for writing.

"No," Hatori said, watching Akina idly doodle on a scrap of paper.

"I'll tell you where she probably is if you tell me how she is without lying, Hatori-san." She finished doodling and tapped the pencil on the desk, obviously waiting for Hatori to give in.

Hatori sighed. Why was it that women always won any argument he entered into with them? "Fine."

"You like one word answers." She kept tapping, staring directly at Hatori. "Don't pretend you're tongue-tied now, mister. Tell me."

Hatori took a deep breath and spat out the explanation as fast as he could. Every minute was wasting time. "I don't know, because I don't know Samantha. All I can tell is that she's acting different from her usual self. For more, you need to ask Yinari."

"Fine." Akina folded up the slip of paper she had previously been doodling on into a paper plane and threw it so it landed perfectly at Hatori's feet. A misspent childhood, perhaps. "Go find her, doctor-man."

"What is this?" Hatori asked, picking up the paper plane.

"Ah, he's not monosyllabic after all. What an achievement it is to coax more than one word out of you."

"Not really," Hatori said, and unfolded the paper plane. On the inside, an address was written in scrupulously neat kanji. "Is this Samantha's address?" Without waiting, he turned on his heel and strode quickly to the stairs. "Never mind, I can't take any more of this."

"Her home." Akina called after him.

"What?" he asked, turning back slightly.

"The address. It's her home address. If she's not there, I don't know where she would be." The pencil spun once more in Akina's hand, and she snapped at him, "Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and find her!"

Hatori noticed that she looked worried, and not just about Samantha. She was probably breaching company policy to give him Samantha's address. He sighed. "Thanks for the help," he said, and began to run down the steps. After he reached the bottom, he jogged out the lobby into a nearly empty street.

He paused in the middle of the sidewalk and consulted the scrap of paper again. "I hope I know where this place is," he grumbled to himself, and looked at the address. Thanks to his photographic memory, the refedex in his head provided him with directions.

He was so deep in thought that he nearly missed the familiar dark-blond woman kneeling in the middle of the street, oblivious to the other people around her. It was only when he was bumped by a passer-by that he looked up and saw Samantha and the small crowd around her. He broke into a run, and shoving through the crowd, skidded to a halt beside her. "Samantha!" She didn't respond, just let out a gasp of pain and clutched her head. Hatori sighed and gently pressed on her shoulder until she was sitting straight. "Samantha, I need you to stay awake and to talk to me."

Her response was another moan and a sudden weight on his arms when she closed her eyes and fell back against his body.

"Darn it." The man pulled his phone out of his pocket, flipped it open and quickly called Yinari.

A few rings into the sequence the phone was picked up, "hello?"

"Yinari, it's Hatori."

"Oh, hi. What's wrong?"

The man glanced down at the woman leaning against him, "I found Samantha, but she was having an attack and fainted on me."

"_On _you?" She sounded like she was worried about her friend, but at the same time she sounded like she was about to laugh at him. "You didn't transform, did you? That could be inconvenient."

He sighed. "No, Yinari, I didn't transform. She didn't faint _on_ me literally. Could you please come and help me with her?" He cast a look around and said, "hold on," putting his hand over the mouthpiece. He then addressed the crowd, "You can all go home now, I'm a doctor." The crowd began to disperse and he put the phone back against his ear, pinning it with his shoulder. "I'm back."

A deep, fake sigh was filtered through the phone. "Sure I can help, where are you?"

Hatori squinted at the street signs nearby, "Um, Eighth and Main."

"Alright, be there soon."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

They both hung up at the same time and the man stuffed the phone back into his back pocket. He then quickly laid the woman down on the ground using his coat as a pillow, out of the way of the one or two people that happened to pass by. "I hope you get better soon, Samantha."

* * *

Well, thats this chapter! There were a ton of changes made by Ash-kun...so many thanks to her... here it is! Yeah... I kinda like how it turned out... actually I really do!

I'll try to write more after this... I don't really have anything important... except that we'll be moving in a month or so... but my last day of school is late May and I graduate in June!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! And I've decided where I'm going... so I have everything done in that area! Yay!

(alright...enough self-celebration!)

Oh, btw. If anyone's looking for a good anime/manga... I would HIGHLY recommend Ouran High School Host Club. It's funny... sad and... everything else! It's also all on youtube!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter!

DesirePassion, Tuki, Pure Shikon, and Yanikei (did I ever respond to your review?)

Thanks again! And please don't forget to REVIEW!

Oh, by the way! I'm going to upload a new RK story called "Lost Dreams of Happiness" please check it out!

See ya next time!

ja ne,

miji-chan/cara-chan


	18. And So The Truth Begins to be Revealed

Brotherly Bonds

Ch 18

Welcome one and all! I apologize profusely for how long it took to upload this chapter. No worries, I won't even attempt to make excuses for there are none.... probably.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this new chapter and that it was well worth the wait!

(Feedback would be appreciated)

* * *

It had taken all of Yinari and Hatori's, who had to be careful to not transform, strength in order to carry Sam to Hatori's house within the Sohma complex, making sure that they were not seen by anyone, and then set her down on the couch within his office. Of course later Hatori remarked that it would have been much easier if one of them had just gotten their car and taken her into the house that way, which she had slapped him for.

But, eventually the two of them set the unconscious woman on the couch, and Yinari left Hari to take care of Sam, while she went off and made coffee.

Sitting on the couch next to Sam, and placing his medical kit beside him, the seahorse doctor began attempting to help the woman. Although the problem was that her illness was mental, and not physical- therefore, there wasn't much he could for her.

The man sighed softly, "And this is all the Sohma's fault." He gently raised her head and placed a pillow underneath it, "No, this is all Akito's fault." The head of the Sohma family was the direct reason why Samantha was having these migraines, or feeling ill to begin with, but, the rest of the Sohma jyuunishi were especially to blame; specifically Shigure who had first transformed in front of her, even if Akito had pushed the dog into Samantha.

Hatori stood and dragged a chair over next to the couch; Akito could be so contradictory sometimes. He slowly sat down, and then relaxed into the comfortable piece of furniture. The young head always said that he didn't want any outsiders to know about the Sohma family curse, but when Samantha had followed Shigure to the 'inside' of the compound, Akito had pushed the dog at her, making it absolutely certain that he would transform and that Samantha would find out. The dragon sighed and placed a hand over his eyes, it was as if Akito was trying to make his life harder, or as if the young head enjoyed having outsiders learn about the curse, and then making Hatori erase their memories.

But, of all of the people and their memories he had had to erase, never before had he seen such a violent reaction as Samantha's. Usually people forgot everything they had to do with the Sohma family, or, in Yinari's case, he was unable to erase their memory. But with Samantha, it appeared that she had become increasingly ill after he had erased her memories. And now, she seemed to be in some unconscious or comatose state- and because of that he was afraid of trying too many things medical-wise, in fear of making her condition worse.

Beside him Samantha shifted slightly on the couch, causing the blanket to fall partially off her and for her hair to fall in her eyes. Hatori held his breath, hoping she would wake up… but even though he waited for several minutes, she never stirred any further.

The man sighed softly and reached out to pull the blanket back onto her, as well as to brush the hair away from her face. She seemed much more peaceful asleep then awake, although Sam didn't seem to be having very serene dreams. He was worried about her, but not near as much as Yinari was worried about her.

Undoubtedly it was the Sohma's fault for bringing Samantha into the secretiveness and darkness that was the Sohma family. If Yuki and Ayame had not needed a psychiatrist, and if Yinari had not suggested Samantha, then the woman would have lived the rest of her life without going through such pain, and without knowing the secret of the Sohma family.

Hatori sighed and brushed his hair with his fingers, if only Samantha hadn't gotten involved at all with their family. He should have known that by having the woman as Ayame and Yuki's psychiatrist their secret would eventually get out. They should have planned this out further, he should have been aware that this would be a possibility. But Akito had never been predictable, even by those who claimed or thought they knew him well. He should have known that sooner or later, as long as Samantha was close to their family, Akito would want to meet her- which would spell trouble for all of them.

And this was the result of their reckless actions – Samantha was ill, not only physically, but also mentally.

After he and Yinari had brought her to the compound, the doctor had done as many tests as he could think of on the woman, without invading her privacy. But the results had yet to reveal the reason why a seemingly healthy woman would collapse like Samantha had.

Of course, she hadn't been completely healthy of late. Especially after he had erased her memories, at least, she hadn't according to Yinari. The few times they had spoken while Yinari was looking after her friend, he had heard the enormous amount of compassion and care she had for Samantha. During their many calls, Yinari had failed to respond to his teasing like she usually did. Instead she mostly talked about Samantha.

At the same time, she had also mentioned that Sam had not always had such a spirited personality. But when Hatori mentioned it again, Yinari had refused to say anything else, or anything more specific. The only other detail she ever told him was that something terrifying had happened to Sam before she had come to Japan. But, that was all Yinari ever said, and the only reason she gave, was that it had taken Sam years of friendship before Sam had seemed to even consider mentioning it. It was evidently a very private matter.

But Hatori had a feeling that some of Sam's secrets would not be staying private for very long. When a person was ill, as Sam was, private matters that would usually never be revealed tended to in fact be, as Hatori had seen before.

He was distracted from his thoughts when the door beside him slowly creaked open and he turned to see Yinari standing there with a tray of what looked to be either tea or coffee on it.

"You're still here?" Hatori asked quietly, moving away from the couch to settle comfortably back in his chair.

She smiled amiably at him as she walked up and handed him one of the cups. "Course, so are you. I'll stay as long as you do." Yinari sat down on the floor, taking the time to make herself comfortable before turning towards him with a worried expression. "How is she doing?"

Hatori sighed quietly, "I'm not quite sure. I can't tell if she's unconscious or merely sleeping."

"Shouldn't we wake her up then? I'm sure you could figure out what's wrong if she were awake." Yinari asked, staring down into her cup.

The man shook his head. "That might hurt her even more, or cause some unknown damage. It's better to leave her be." He rubbed his temple with one hand, "I don't know what else to do for her."

Yinari looked terrified. "You can't do _anything_?"

"No Yinari, I can't." He glanced at her and sighed at her expression. "Please don't look at me like that. When I say I can't, I truly can't."

She stopped pouting and now looked desperate, "But you're a _doctor_ Ha'ri! Doctors are able to do anything! You're supposed to be able to do anything!"

The chair squeaked softly as he turned to face her, "We're not _gods_ Yinari, we don't have the ability to satisfy our needs or others needs. The universe is a strange place; things happen which _nobody_ has any control over, not even people in the highest positions in our society. All of us are simply people, we're only human. We don't have the ability to change our fates, and we definitely don't have the power to stop people from dying; or to bring people back from the dead."

For several minutes Yinari simply sat staring at him. She had already known Ha'ri had a pessimistic view of the world, a view she guessed that came from being one of the jyuunishi. But, the words she had just heard from his mouth surprised her even so. "But Ha'ri, Sam's not going to die, is she?"

Anxiously she waited for his answer, but as the minutes went by she felt her apprehension quickly growing and began nibbling on her lip and wringing her hands.

"No," he said finally, "I don't believe so. But, you have to understand that I don't actually know what _is_ making her ill. I know Samantha has been mentally traumatized, but I have no indication of how or why."

"Ha'ri…"

He mistook the quaver in her voice for worry and fear. "There's no need for you to worry Yinari," he took her hands in his and squeezed them gently. "I promise to you that I _will_ figure out what's wrong and I _will _help her. I promise."

But the woman shook her head, "I'm not worried about that Ha'ri. I mean, I _am_ worried about Sam but, I know she'll get better."

"Then, what's wrong?"

Yinari winced and wouldn't meet his eyes.

Finally after a long moment she said quickly, "I, I think I have an idea of what happened to make Sam ill."

Hatori simply looked at her for a very long moment before he said shortly, "Please tell me then."

Yinari sighed and stared at the floor, "I didn't think of this earlier, but after what happened back at our office… before she collapsed…" The words drifted into silence and Hatori had the feeling she was brooding over Samantha again.

"'Nari…"

She started and looked up at him with startled eyes. "Huh? Oh, sorry. What I was going to say is that I feel like Sam's behaving how she did… when I first met her."

Hatori gave her a long, level look before he said softly, "Go on."

Opposite him Yinari sighed and looked down at her hands again. "When I first met Sam…" she shook her head, "To put it simply, she was a wreck Ha'ri."

"She was so quiet. She rarely spoke unless you pushed her until she finally gave in. It was really hard to approach her as well. Sam was really skittish and distant; any time you tried to talk to her she would clam up. Even though I knew, and so did everyone else, that she could speak Japanese almost perfectly.

And I remember that Sam always refused to talk about her family, or about where she was living. It was only years later that I found out, she didn't tell me _I_ _found out_, that she was in high school and college purely on a full scholarship. Not only that, but she was also working every night as a waitress to pay the rent for her tiny one-room apartment. Sam had barely any money and no one to care for her. It was around that time that I also found out that her entire family was dead. Her parents and her older brother had died two years before she came to Japan, and the rest of her family had died long before that. So I had her move in with me into my house where I knew she'd be safe.

But, that still didn't solve everything. Sam was still afraid to go out at night, or anywhere, unless I went with her. And it didn't take me long to realize that she was also terrified of loud noises and blood. She always refused to watch any horror movies, Sam claimed they were too loud, and were incredibly gory with too much screaming. But, I think it was more than that. Whenever we watched crime or law shows she covered her eyes when they showed blood or the crime scene, and covered her ears when people screamed- especially during the parts at the beginning where they showed what happened. And, she also refused to use any knives other than table knives; I always had to cut things while Sam was in the other room."

"So, she was paranoid then?" Hatori commented curiously, trying to understand.

Yinari shook her head, "No, it wasn't paranoia. I think something else was at work. Throughout my career I've seen lots of examples of paranoia, but what Sam was dealing with was something else entirely. All I can guess is that whatever happened back in England that she refused to talk about was horrible enough to put her in a nearly constant state of fear." She sighed again. "But after we became friends and spent more time together over the years, I think Sam slowly got better."

"It took her awhile to trust me, and after we were friends it felt like I had to start all over again to earn her trust." Yinari smiled slightly, but she found that it was a struggle to keep it there. "But, when she finally smiled and finally laughed with me… I felt like everything was worth it. When Sam laughed and smiled for real, not just pretend… it was amazing."

Hatori slid out of his chair to kneel beside her on the floor, careful not to knock over either of the mugs. "But, she trusts you now?"

"I'm not sure," Yinari winced, "she used to- but now? Lately? I have no idea."

"Because of the Sohma's?"

Yinari shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. She's been acting different lately, but I don't have any idea why."

"Especially after I erased her memories," Hatori finished the unspoken remainder of the sentence, sighing.

She shrugged again. "I just don't want to see her hurt again. I don't want to see her like that again."

In the silence that followed, Hatori sipped thoughtfully at his tea. The Samantha he knew in the present was very interesting to him. There seemed to be so much to her, she seemed to be much more complicated than she appeared. It was really unfortunate that Sam had gotten mixed up with the Sohma family. Perhaps if she had met them in a different way and if they had the opportunity to interact in a different way, then most likely none of this would have happened. And then everything would be perfect, or near-perfect, which was a welcoming thought.

"Ha'ri, we have to do something for her. We have to help Sam with this. After all that I think she's been through, she needs friends by her side." Yinari looked up at him with green eyes brimming with tears. "Please Ha'ri, she deserves it."

The man nodded his agreement. "She does deserve something. After all, it was us Sohma's that got her into this mess. We owe it to her to try and get her out of it. At least… I believe I do."

Yinari smiled slightly and glanced over at her friend, "I think if you asked her, Sam would say that she was only doing her job by trying to help Yuki and Ayame. All of this was only an unfortunate side effect." She moved so that she was facing her friend and slowly leaned forward. "She's selfless that way," Yinari whispered as she rested her arms on the couch and then rested her chin on them.

"Yes she is," Hatori replied and the woman could hear the smile in his voice. They sat in silence until he spoke again, his tone serious now. "Yinari, if there's anything else you know about Samantha that could help me to make her feel better, and make her well again… please tell me."

She hummed in response and tilted her head, thinking. "I, don't know." Yinari raised her hand and began gently running her fingers through Sam's hair, hoping to give her at least a little comfort. "Like I said, she didn't tell me very much about herself. I only found out piece by piece over the years."

"So she's secretive then?"

Yinari shook her head, her fingers still absentmindedly running through her friend's hair. "No, not secretive. Just, really hesitant to trust people. I've found she has a hard time keeping secrets if you know her well. When she heard that I had gotten accepted to university, Sam blurted that she had gotten accepted as well just a few days before, even though she hadn't wanted to tell me until later. We also declared our majors almost the same day, and I had never known that she was interested in psychology. Sometimes it felt like Sam didn't want to tell me things because she was afraid of how I would react. Like, she didn't want me to think unwell of her."

Beneath her hand Sam sighed pleasingly and shifted so that her head was resting against Yinari's hand. "Nari…"

Yinari blinked and leaned back slightly. "Sam?" She whispered, stilling her hand.

"Mm, don't stop."

Yinari made a sort of strangled laugh as a bright smile broke out on her face. "Oh Sam! You're alive! You're awake!" Yinari felt tears running down her cheeks but didn't dare take the time to wipe them away. "I've been so worried!"

A small smile worked itself onto Samantha's face, "You're such a mother hen 'Nari. You always worry about me." Her eyelids fluttered.

"But I have to Sam, that's what friends are for." Yinari scolded, gently twisting strands of Sam's hair around her fingers.

Sam's eyes fluttered open, focusing on her friends face. "No, that's what mother hens do. And surrogate mothers." She laughed softly, "Of which you seem to be both."

Yinari bit back a reply, just happy to see Sam awake and smiling again. She had been really worried, and knew she didn't have to admit it since Hatori had been around her enough in the past week or so to see her worry first hand, and apparently Sam already knew. But, she had every right to be worried. Sam didn't get sick often, and when she did, she became worse before she got better.

"Nari? Where are we?" Sam's soft voice brought her thoughts back to the present and she looked down to find her friend staring curiously at the ceiling.

She carefully planned out what to say, before explaining slowly and quietly, "We're at a house of a friend of mine. The friend is a doctor, so I thought it would be good to bring you here… especially after you fainted."

"Fainted?"

Sam slowly lowered her gaze from the ceiling to focus on Yinari, who looked worried for some reason. Wondering why her friend looked so worried, and realizing that it was probably something to do with her, Sam glanced behind Yinari…. And froze.

Sitting on the floor, a few feet behind Yinari was a man, a man who she had never seen before.

Yinari must have noticed the look on her face since she cleared her throat and turned towards the stranger. "Sam, this is the doctor I told you about. Hatori-sensei. He's the one who's been looking after you while you were unconscious."

Making sure not to let any of her fear show on her face, Sam bowed and then bobbed her head in greeting. "It's very nice to meet you Sohma-san."

Hatori and Yinari started and turned to stare at each other, Yinari with an open mouth.

"Ha'ri? Did Sam just say something that she shouldn't even know?" The woman whispered, leaning close to him so Sam wouldn't overhear.

He shook his head, "You're not wrong, she did."

"Um, excuse me," Samantha interjected politely, her voice shy, "Thank you for taking care of me but I should be getting home now."

To her companion's surprise, she slowly slid off the couch and then cautiously stood up. At first she wobbled slightly but soon became steady on her feet.

"Sam, I don't think…"

But the women ignored her friend and instead once again bowed to Hatori, then walked towards the door.

"Sam! Stop! You haven't been well!"

Sam gently slid the door open, stepped out, and then slid it closed behind her.

For several seconds the two of them sat in silence, Yinari still poised over the couch and Hatori holding the cup.

"We have to go after her!" Yinari jumped to her feet, turning towards Hatori.

"I don't think that's," he began, but then he saw the determined look on her face and gave in. "Alright. But, we need to be careful." As he spoke, Hatori slowly rose to his feet and brushed imaginary dust off his clothes. "Apparently she still trusts you, but she doesn't trust me."

Yinari blinked at him, and then donned a thoughtful expression. "Ha'ri, if she remembered your name, then do you think she remembers everything?"

Hatori glanced over at her, his expression carefully neutral. "It's possible Yinari. If she was able to suppress her own memories as a child, then I wouldn't be surprised if she can resist someone else's attempt at doing the same thing."

"But, she didn't..."

"You fought it as well, 'Nari. I wasn't able to make you forget either." He raised an eyebrow at her, "and is it truly such a bad thing if Samantha remembers?"

Yinari laughed at him. "As you might remember, I was a special case. And, I wouldn't let Akito hear you say it doesn't matter if she knows."

"Actually," Hatori said quietly, "I have a theory about that."

She blinked at him, "About me, Akito or Sam?"

Ha'ri frowned at her, "What do you think? About Samantha, of course." He sighed, "Really 'Nari, this isn't a humorous matter."

"I know that."

"Then stop mincing my words and just listen to me." The man demanded impatiently, annoyed with her for not listening to something that might be of help to Samantha.

A few seconds later he glanced up to see her staring intently at him. Thank goodness.

"I have a strong feeling that, although I don't know exactly what happened to Samantha as a child, it was traumatic enough to make her desperate to forget- so she actually did. Since you're a psychiatrist I'm fairly sure you've heard of people creating memories of an event that didn't actually ever happen, or creating false memories?" Ha'ri asked, staring at the carpet.

Yinari nodded, "Yeah, sure. That happens a lot, actually. But," it took a few more seconds before she understood what he was talking about. "You mean, you think she created memories to replace whatever happened?"

"It would make sense. Think about it. Obviously the real event has still impacted her in more ways than just mentally. But, at the same time she could have created a completely different memory in her mind to explain what happened. Since she couldn't tell anyone the truth, instead of fabricating she created an entirely different truth for herself. But, the real memory still exists in her mind- she's just locked it somewhere deep within her mind so she doesn't have to admit its existence."

"But now, since I attempted to suppress her memories about the Sohma curse, at the same time it apparently also indirectly freed the memory she had made herself forget years before. So right now she's fighting with herself to figure out which memory is the truth and which memory is false. And, I fear that Samantha will be in danger from her surroundings. If her mind is completely focused on trying to make sense of her memories, then she might also have trouble being fully aware of what is around her."

The woman stared at him, "Do you mean, that she might mistake something for a delusion?" A look of panic appeared on her face. "Oh god, so she could be wandering around the city right now completely lost. And on top of all that, Sam could think that something's not real when it actually is. She could be mugged or in a fight and she wouldn't be able to tell if it was real or just her imagination! Sam could be _killed_!"

"I don't think it would go as far as that," Hatori began reassuringly, but Yinari paid him no attention.

"We have to find her Ha'ri! Something bad could happen to her and she wouldn't even notice! She probably wouldn't even care!"

Ha'ri sighed, "Yinari,"

"Come on Ha'ri!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door, "You know how depressed she's been lately! Now we know why and we can probably help her without any long-term harm to Sam! If we leave her alone for too long she'll probably become more miserable, especially since she'll feel like she's in a strange country with no one to depend on!"

A thought came to Hatori suddenly, and he felt his legs threaten to collapse, "Yinari, do you know how long Samantha was in Japan before you met her?"

The woman halted mid-rant and stared at him, "I'm not sure. Sam never really talked about her past much, even about when she came to Japan. But, less than a year maybe?"

"And she was alone for that entire time? She didn't have anyone she could depend on, or anyone she could trust?" When she looked at him confused, Ha'ri continued. "We're both worried about how Samantha will handle being in the real world, when she has trouble separating reality with fiction. She's already mentally unbalanced, but what if during the time Samantha believes everything around her is an illusion, she encounters something that convinces her it truly is, and also directly reminds her of whatever she's made herself forget?"

Yinari sighed, playing with her hair, "that wouldn't be good at all. Sam, Sam would…" Fear flickered across her face and she stilled. "Oh no."

"Exactly. For as long as the two of you have been friends, you've been her link to the present as well as part of the reason why she never remembered her past. Even though she didn't want to tell you about what had happened to her, you never pried and therefore let her, and helped her, to enjoy the life she had here. You're Samantha's strength and backbone Yari. She knows that if anything is ever wrong, she can always come to you and you'll help her. You're her support. But," he paused, giving her time for his words to sink in. He knew that this was already hard for Yinari, that it was hard for her to see Samantha suffering like she was. But in order to help Samantha, she also needed to know exactly what was happening to her friend. Of course, since she was a psychiatrist there was no doubt that Yinari understood the circumstances, but she was also Samantha's closest friend. She took all of this very personally, but he was able to consider everything less personally since he didn't know Samantha as well as she did.

Of course, he was the one who had erased Samantha's memories in the first place.

"Ha'ri?"

Hatori flinched when he heard the barely hidden fear put into his name. He felt bad for placing that fear there, but he was also glad to know that she understood the situation. Especially the situation Samantha was in.

Taking a deep breath, Hatori continued, "but if it's true that her mind is so unbalanced that she can't tell the difference between reality and fiction, then it might seem to her that she has no one to lean on. If she is remembering her childhood back in Britain, then it's probable that she feels lonely- but also terrified. We have no idea what happened to her, but whatever it was, it was traumatic enough to cause her to make herself forget it. If she has remembered now, then that means her mind and her view of the world are in danger of being damaged. Her psyche is in danger of being deeply damaged or even destroyed."

Yinari's expression became one of horror as her eyes flew wide open, "No, you're kidding. You have to be joking."

"I'm not. It's important for us to watch over and help Samantha. Otherwise, in the end, she might become an entirely different person. The person she would have been if she had never forgotten. Or, if the memory is truly as traumatic as it appears to be, then…., for lack of a better description," he looked over at her, holding her gaze, "she might become insane."

* * *

Samantha ran breathlessly past the line of houses, abruptly coming to a stop when she realized that she had already gone by this particular block of buildings.

_I'm going in circles. Where is the exit to this place? It has to be somewhere!_

After catching her breath, the woman straightened and glanced around; trying to find any opening that would get her out of this accursed maze.

Finally her eyes alighted on what seemed to be a doorway of some kind. Grinning, Sam walked slowly towards it while ignoring the warning her mind was trying to give her. Instead she focused on her surroundings, checking to make sure that no one was around to catch her walking lost around this place- whatever this place was.

When she realized that there wasn't any other human being in sight, Sam paused at the side of the gateway before creeping in, putting all of her focus into not making any sound. But no one reacted, so she let out a slow breath and began walking along the stone path that wound its way around this new area. She had been walking for a few moments, noticing that these houses were bigger and fancier looking than the ones she had encountered before of what seemed to be an incredibly large backyard, when someone spoke from behind her.

"What are you doing in here?"

Samantha jumped a foot in the air and turned, her heart pounding loudly, towards the unknown voice. The sight that met her eyes was, surprising. A teenager was lounging on a wooden porch attached to the back of a house, only a few feet away clothed solely in what seemed to be a very complicated black yukata that made his black hair and dark eyes stand out even more in an unearthly way. But even though this stranger appeared to be much younger than her, there was an air of importance and hidden malice wrapped around them that scared her.

Her self-defense immediately kicked in.

"I'm sorry to disrupt you sir, but I'm afraid I'm lost. Could you possibly point me in the direction of the entrance?" Sam asked quietly, bowing slightly, her accent becoming more defined due to her fear.

The stranger stared at her, his lips thinning, "You never answered my question. What are you doing here?"

Sam blinked, and then said softly, "Like I said, sir… I'm a little lost. I seem to have gotten turned around. If you could…"

"Silence!" The stranger shouted, rising to his feet. "Tell me right now, or I will punish you severely!"

If Samantha had been in her right mind, and truly aware of her surroundings, she would have laughed at the man and also made several choice threats in return. She wouldn't have cowered before him at all.

But sadly Sam _wasn't_ in her right mind, and because of this she was only aware of what was happening directly around her, and at that exact moment. And so, she took the strangers threat to heart.

"I'm, I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you sir! Please, please forgive me." Sam begged, bowing constantly.

Her accent was now even thicker, making her difficult to understand as she spoke.

"Well?!" The man demanded.

Sam flinched slightly, lowering her gaze."I was, on my way home from visiting Sohma-sensei. But I can't seem to find the exit for this place."

"Who were you visiting?" The stranger eyed her curiously, "more importantly, how did you get in? No one should have allowed you entrance."

The woman slowly straightened, "I was told Hatori-san brought me here while I was unconscious, he was the one I was visiting."

"Hatori?" The stranger's expression became one of suspicion, "He still should have…. Wait," his eyes narrowed, "I recognize you, you are the woman that fool Ayame and my Yuki went to see against my wishes. And you were sneaking around this estate with Shigure once as well."

Samantha knew better than to respond, she knew silence was important in cases such as this. But many questions were running through her mind; including the matter of when she had met this stranger before, and who Shigure, Yuki and Ayame were. Those names weren't familiar at all. But, it was obvious that now would be the worst possible time to ask about them.

"No matter… you still should not be in here, even if Hatori gave his permission. You shouldn't even know the Sohma's," he began to raise his voice, his rising anger scaring Sam. "You should not have even come near us! You have no right to be associated with the Sohma family at all! Hatori was supposed to make you forget about us! He was supposed to make you forget everything!"

The angry stranger stalked towards her, his fists raised, "You have no right! No right!"

Sam, fearful that the man was going to hit her, stumbled back a few steps that resulted in her losing her balance and falling heavily to the ground. "But, but I _don't_ know anything about the Sohma family!" She protested weakly.

"Silence!" He shouted down at her, stopping near her feet in order to loom over her, casting a dark shadow on her shaking body, "You are nothing! I do not have to listen to such a worthless person!" The man raised his bare foot and brought it down with most of his strength on top of her foot.

Instantly pain flooded her body and Sam had to bite her lip to stop from crying out. The sound of something cracking whispered its way to her ears and her body began trembling violently.

"Ha! That should show you to not disobey my orders! If I ever see you around this estate again, I will be sure to treat you to even more pain. And then you will truly be sorry," the man ordered while smirking, bending over to stare meaningfully into her dark blue eyes that freely displayed just how scared she really was. His smirk slowly became a cold smile. Earlier this woman had seemed strong and unable to break under his influence, always ignoring his threats or actions with simple ease (even when he had pushed her into Shigure). But now, she was looking at him with true fear in her eyes, the strength she had had before was gone- just like that relentless Australian woman.

He vaguely wondered what the cause of the sudden change was, but then quickly dismissed the thought, satisfied with the outcome.

"Do you understand my orders? I never want to see you around this estate or near my family again!" In order to emphasize his point, the man pushed down on her foot again, this time moving his foot around slightly, increasing her pain. He smiled when she made an involuntary shriek of pain.

"I asked if you understood me!" She groaned quietly, her hands clenching into fists, "Say something!"

Sam moaned and slowly raised her head to look him in the eyes, "What do you want me to say, sir?"

He kicked her with his other foot. "That you promise to obey my orders!"

"I, I promise." She whispered, fighting a wave of nausea as her side began throbbing in addition to her foot.

The man glared at her, "Who are you promising this?"

"You, sir."

"My name is _not_ 'sir.'"

Sam blinked at him, tears in her eyes.

"Akito, my name is _Akito_." He growled angrily, leaning in close once more as he punctuated each word carefully.

The woman flinched and her gaze moved off to the side, "Akito-sama."

Akito smirked and leaned back. "That's better. Now leave. I have no desire to see your ugly face anymore." He straightened and looked away, seemingly ignoring her. "Get out."

"Yes, Akito-sama. I apologize for bothering you. Please excuse me," as she spoke Sam climbed to her feet and bowed, managing somehow to keep her balance as she put all of her weight on her good foot. She then quickly limped her way to the entrance she had come through and disappeared down the path on the other side.

Akito smiled to himself; this new development was very interesting.

* * *

Yinari tried to pull away from the iron hand wrapped around her wrist, gritting her teeth. "Ha'ri! Let go! I have to go after her!"

"That's not a good idea at the moment Yinari! You need to stay _calm_!" Hatori scolded, attempting to pull her back into the house. But she had a tight grip on the doorframe with one hand and the other hand clasped around his arm, with her feet planted firmly on the wooden steps.

"Stay calm?" The woman shouted incredulously, loosening one of her hands to grab the other side of the doorframe while she turned to face him. "You want me to stay calm while my best friend is wandering around a large and crowded city, most likely completely terrified out of her mind without any support?" She narrowed her eyes at him, "Ask anything of me Ha'ri, but not this- _never_ this!"

With a strong jerk, Yinari succeeded in freeing herself from Hatori's grip and the doorframe. But she then lost her balance and fell backward off the steps to land heavily on her bottom.

"Yinari… you need to think rationally about this," the man began to scold but stopped when she raised her head to glare fiercely at him through her unruly hair. "I'm going after her Hatori, and I don't care at all if I have your permission or not." She slowly rose to her feet, "and there's no way I'll let you stop me."

Hatori watched motionless and silent as she walked quickly down across the lawn away from him, her dark shadow cutting across the darkening lawn and growing larger as she moved towards the entrance to the outside. When he finally wasn't able to see her anymore the man sighed and walked inside to search for his car keys.

* * *

Sam stumbled down the shadowed streets of the outskirts of the city, oblivious to the glances from the few other people who were also outside. Instead her attention was completely focused on the dark shadows that seemed to be looming animatedly towards her, reaching out towards her from the depths of the buildings on either side of her. As a child she had been terrified of the dark, a fear her parents had often lightly scolded her for- although she had yet to grow out of the fear.

At the thought of her parents Samantha tightly closed her eyes and sniffled quietly, momentarily ignoring the throbbing pain from her foot. It had been awhile since the- the passing away of her parents and older brother. But it was still an extremely painful subject for her; she still had a difficult time imagining life without them.

Sometimes Samantha wished she had also passed on with her family, wished that she wasn't the only member of her family left alive. There were times when she became so lonely…

The woman paused in the middle of the street, putting most of her weight on her unharmed foot, and raised her head to stare around the street with pale, unfocused blue eyes. Those around her ignored her as they walked past, more concerned with their own worries than a woman standing in the middle of the street dressed untidily, favoring one foot and staring blankly around her in a way similar to a sleep-walker.

What they didn't notice were the silent tears streaming down her face, or the light in her eyes fading slowly into emptiness, or, barely hidden by her pant legs, the swelling and bruises still fresh and dark around her ankle and foot.

Sam glanced constantly at her surroundings, trying to find anything to her that looked remotely familiar- but found none. Everything was different and strange, things that she had never seen before. Which she realized most likely meant that she was not in England, or somewhere that she knew. Instead it was a strange place that looked nothing like home.

The woman looked around desperately again, trying to find a place where she could hide from all the strange and unfamiliar things. But around her it was crowded, more people filling the streets every moment and all the windows and doorways were brightly lit, only occasionally shadowed by the people walking past. None of them would work as a hiding place, so she searched one, final time- silently deciding that if there wasn't a place nearby where she could hide, she would give up and go back to her house. Her house?

Finally her fear-darkened eyes focused on a nearby alleyway. It was dark enough that people wouldn't be able to see her, but not dark enough for her to be scared from the lack of light.

Sam began slowly walking towards the alleyway, but before she was halfway there she heard, loud, hurried footsteps coming quickly towards her.

The woman panicked and began moving as fast as she could with her broken foot towards the dark alleyway. She had nearly made it when something heavy hit her back, knocking her down onto the ground, face first.

She heard someone repeatedly calling her name, in a panicked and loud voice, but she ignored the voice and everything else around her- focusing solely on trying to get the weight pushing down on her wrists and back off.

After several minutes of struggling and failing to get away, Sam gave up and became very still. She instead tightly closed her eyes and whispered, "Please let go. Let go, please!"

As she spoke, those silent tears returned and began slowly trailing down her face.

* * *

Yinari glanced down at Sam, at the same time trying to catch her breath after she had run for so long, and leaned over her friend's tense form to hear Sam quietly begging.

It hurt her so deeply to see her best friend in such a state. Sam had constantly been by her side whenever she had gone through a hard time or felt down, or whenever she was having trouble- Sam was always there. But now, when Sam needed her she couldn't be there for her friend. Instead Sam had recently been acting meek and quiet whenever they were around each other, which Yinari could suffer through if she absolutely had to. But Sam lying under her _crying _silently and _begging_ for Yinari not to hurt her- those she could not come even close to dealing with.

"Sam? Sam, its okay. I promise I won't hurt you," Yinari comforted as she slowly sat up, meanwhile loosening her hold on Sam's wrists. "I promise."

Even though she was mostly free, except for the slight weight, Sam slowly rolled over warily freezing every few seconds. After she was on her back, Sam paused for several seconds before cautiously opening her eyes to stare blankly up at the sky.

Yinari sighed, "Please Sam, just say a word, a single word. I need to know that you're alright; I need to hear your voice." She balanced her weight on her knees, trying not to frighten her friend any further. "_Please_ Sam," the woman begged after the other remained silent.

Instead of replying to either pleads, the blond-haired woman turned her head away to the side, closing her eyes- trying to shut out the world.

Now Yinari felt as if she were on her last strand of hope. She had no idea what to say or what she should do next; under these circumstances there was no way she could become upset at all with her friend. None of what had happened was Sam's fault, although Yinari wasn't sure that Sam herself knew this- she seemed suspended somewhere between the past and the present, reality and imagination, so that Sam had no concrete idea of where she was or of what was happening.

"Sam, if you refuse to speak then I want you to just listen to me, and understand what I'm saying." She closed her eyes and counted to ten before reopening them and speaking again. "My name is Yinari, and I'm a close friend of yours- we've known each other for near to a decade. I don't know what's going on in your head or what you're thinking or feeling right now, but I want you to understand that I want to _help_ you… not hurt, but _help_." The woman sighed, "I would and could never hurt you."

When Sam remained silent and continued staring into space Yinari helplessly ran her fingers through her hair. "I need you to trust me Samantha, but I have no idea how to regain that trust. I don't know if you're even with me right now."

Beneath her, Sam stirred slightly and turned her head frontwards again to stare up at the sky for several long minutes before she slowly lowered her gaze to meet Yinari's.

What Yinari saw in those blue eyes scared her. They were extremely pale, with very little of their original sky blue color left and didn't appear to hold any recognition of Yinari or truly anything at all. It was as if Samantha had been sleep-walking and then only recently began slowly returning to the present. The intense and wild fear that only a few minutes ago had consumed the woman was gone, replaced by a passive and distant mood that scared Yinari just as much as the fear had.

"Sam? Sam, do you recognize me? Do you know who I am?" She leaned over her, diminishing the distance between them. In the few moments silence the woman's eyes darted around Sam's face, trying to find any hint of awareness.

Her friend blinked up at her, once, twice and a third time before frowning as her eyes narrowed slightly. Sam stared up at her for several long moments, the look in her eyes flickering between confusion and blankness. But finally the confusion overpowered the blankness and was then overpowered by timid surprise. "Yinari?" The woman asked quietly, "Yinari, that is you, isn't it?"

Yinari sighed with relief and tried not to slump down on top of her friend, "Sam, thank god. You recognize me." For the first time in a while, she smiled. "It's so great to have you back again."

"I never left you Yinari; I don't understand what you're talking about." Sam replied quietly, shifting slightly on the concrete road.

'Maybe not physically, but you've been gone mentally for awhile now,' Yinari thought sadly, but she smiled down at her friend and lifted her hand to gently trail her fingers through her friends soft blonde locks. She had missed Samantha so much, and now she was back- and herself again. The only problem was that she didn't know how long that would last. 'Ha'ri needs to get here soon. If she withdraws again I wouldn't know what to do.'

"Yinari, Yinari?" Sam called softly, interrupting Yinari from her thoughts and causing her to turn to look at the blonde.

"Yeah?"

Her friend smiled shyly at her, but the smile wasn't reflected in her eyes, "Could you maybe, possibly, get off me now?"

Yinari blinked at her in confusion, "Wha?" Then she realized that she was still straddling her friend's waist, "Oh, god, yeah, sure." She slowly raised herself into a squatting position and then slowly got to her feet, swaying slightly. "Sorry about that."

Sam sat up, absently brushing off her shirt and pants. "It's okay Yinari, no damage done." But her voice was so soft and lacked so much emotion that Yinari found herself not believing her. It had been a long time since she had seen Sam so subdued, she was used to her friend being as energetic as she herself was. At the moment Sam was acting just the same as when Yinari had first met her, distant and shy- although she was speaking more than she had back then. But even that slight difference didn't comfort her.

"Are you alright?" The Australian asked worriedly, as she leaned down to her friend's level. "You look a little pale."

The other woman shook her head, smiling slightly. "I'm fine Yinari," she attempted to get to her feet but then winced and fell down abruptly.

"Sam!"

She winced, gently holding her ankle, both at the pain and also at her friend's loud voice. "I'm fine, just please, please don't yell," Sam whispered softly, gently holding her ankle. She was desperately trying not to show the pain on her face, but her ankle was hurting even more due to the amount of weight she was putting on it.

Yinari stepped forward and held her hand out, looking as maternal and protective as Sam remembered her being. The image of Yinari in front of her was suddenly replaced with an image of her mother holding her hand out to Sam with a soft smile, looking just as she had when Sam was a child. A stab of pain shot through Sam's chest, making her gasp and squeeze her eyes shut. Her own mother was dead, and had been so for many years- yet it still hurt her and saddened her to remember or to think about the woman she had loved so much. No matter how long it had been since her family's death, she still cried over them every night. Cried until no more tears would come, and her eyes were dry.

The woman frowned, lightly shaking her head as her surroundings slipped in and out of focus, then started blinking desperately to stop them from becoming blurs in her vision and mind. She quickly began confusing the things around her; had her family died more than a decade or just a few years ago? Why was it so dark out? Was she in the closet again, or was this a nightmare? Her ankle hurt so much; she was in so much pain; had the dark men hurt her or was it the dark teenager? Where was her family? Who was the woman sitting nearby? Where was she? She hurt so much, so much….

Sam looked around her desperately; the area around her looked nothing like the English urban surroundings she had grown up near. Nor did it look like the area around the police station where she had spent quite a long period of her childhood. It was more crowded and active, England never looked like this. The buildings weren't so close together and there weren't as many people around.

She had no idea where she was, and that terrified her.

The women's entire form tensed and she brought her legs closer to her, ready to flee at the first hint of danger. But until that came, she slowly turned her head, her dark unfocused eyes scanning her surroundings. At first glance she saw nothing threatening; there was simply people and stores around her.

But then, a strange woman entered her vision and she readied herself to flee as waves of fear crashed through her mind.

This new woman didn't look dangerous or threatening, nor was she wearing black or had any hint of black on her, but at the moment Sam's mind considered anyone she didn't recognize, and actual strangers, as possible threats.

She was holding her hand out to Sam and smiling, smiling...

Sam flinched and leaned away as she shuffled backwards as far as she was able to. She was beginning to feel claustrophobic, beginning to feel invisible barriers and walls pressing in on her.

The other woman's mouth moved but Sam heard other noises, noises that she knew and dreaded, noises that were invading her hearing and mind- overwhelming her. Soon all she could hear were the sounds of screaming, constant high-pitched screams combined with constant quiet sobs. Then came the unforgettable scent of blood, the metallic yet sweet scent that had haunted her for ages; at once she began shaking, her eyes squeezing shut.

Because her eyes were closed, Sam missed the worried look Yinari gave her before sighing and rubbing her eyes as she wondered what to do. Sam's sudden terrified behavior concerned her; she had never seen her friend act so completely frightened before.

Yinari kneeled beside Sam, taking in her friend's tense form and defensive pose. She wondered worriedly why Sam was so scared, and why Sam thought she would hurt her.

"Sam," she whispered, cautiously stretching out her hand. But Sam didn't react at all, until she rested her hand on the thin, tense shoulder.

"Please, please no. Don't touch me, don't," the Englishwoman whispered, shaking harder but still not opening her eyes.

Yinari removed her hand as her gaze slowly gravitated downwards to Sam's ankle. It was still black and blue and appeared to be very painful, possibly even broken- and from what she had noticed it possibly could be since Sam had been putting barely any weight on it.

"Let me help you Sam, I can help… please let me." She whispered encouragingly, holding her hand out again to her friend.

But the woman opposite her simply curled up into herself and began mumbling things under her breath. It made her realize that every moment Sam was falling further into the darkness growing within her mind.

The Australian tried one last time to convince Sam to let her help her, and also to stay in the present, aware of her surroundings. But, it seemed Sam had fallen beyond her reach within the darkness in her mind. No matter what Yinari said, the other woman never reacted or responded. So Yinari sat back and sighed, at a great loss for what to do.

It was a few moments later that Yinari heard a car drive up and stop nearby. The woman turned around, desperate for any help and sagged with relief when she saw the car door open and Hatori step out.

"Ha'ri! Thank goodness!" She exclaimed, rising to her feet before running over to hug his arm.

He peacefully let her embrace his arm for several moments before gently pulling her away from him so they stood barely a foot away from each other. It was then that he saw her concerned expression.

"Yinari, what's wrong? Did you find her, how is she?" The man asked worriedly, become even more worried when she began crying midway through his questions. "Yinari?"

The woman sniffled loudly and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "I found her," she replied, her voice shaking, "but she's not… she's not herself Ha'ri, I don't think she's completely aware of herself."

"Where is she?" Hatori asked, while at the same time attempting to soothe her.

Yinari pointed over her shoulder to where Sam sat in the middle of the street, curled up into a shaking ball. "It's no use trying to talk to her Ha'ri; she's not really here anymore."

He stepped to the side and past her, raising his hand to lightly pat her on the head, "I can still try, and it's worth trying."

Hatori then walked over to where Samantha was, pausing a few feet away to study her- noticing the same things as Yinari had.

"Samantha? Can you hear me?"

At the sound of his voice coming closer and closer, the woman froze and bent her head so her face was hidden by her hair.

The man knelt down in front of her and sighed softly. "Samantha, if you can hear me and understand me, nod your head," he gently took her chin in his hand and just as gently raised her head so he could look her in the eyes.

But in her eyes there was nothing but pale and unfocused blue light, and as soon as he touched her Sam had begun shaking wildly as fear quickly seeped into her eyes and further into her mind.

"No, no," she whispered in a quiet, terrified voice, her pale eyes wide. "You found me, how- how did you find me? I was so careful, so careful…" her voice drifted off until she was simply mouthing words.

He took his hand away now that she seemed to be attending to him, and instead asked quietly, "Who found you Samantha? Who do you think I am?"

Sam shook her head violently and whispered, "No, no. I can't, I can't," then before Ha'ri could ask another question she began turning her head around, her eyes darting around wildly as if she were watching for someone.

"It's alright Samantha, you're safe here. Just tell me who you think is here right now," Hatori said gently, encouragingly.

But the woman shook her head again, "Can't, can't… they're here. We're not safe. They're everywhere! The black suits, everywhere!"

She turned back towards him and seemed to see Hatori for the first time. Her eyes widened and she dashed backwards, wincing involuntarily at the new wave of pain in her ankle yet still moving. "Black, black," Sam whispered as she stared at his clothes, "black…. Black, and cold eyes. You're one of them. Black suits, everywhere! Not safe…. Not safe!"

With those last terrified words the woman turned over so she was kneeling with her hands pressed against the ground and then began crawling away from him as fast as she could move without using her injured foot.

Hatori quickly reached for her, accidentally grasping her bad foot. Sam froze and shivered as a wave of pain flooded her body, then collapsed to the ground- unconscious.

The man sighed and moved over to her, turning her over so he could slip his hands under her body and then pick her up, supporting her limp body under her shoulders and knees. It worried him how light she was, and how easily he could carry her- a woman of her age shouldn't have been so light.

"Is she alright?" Yinari asked, hurrying up to them. She cast a worried look over both of them.

Hatori continued on his way to the car, casting a momentarily glance at her to the side, "I'm not sure. She definitely wasn't herself before. But, she's unconscious- I think from her ankle."

Yinari hovered worriedly over them as Hatori gently laid Samantha inside the car on the back seat. "So her ankle is broken? I thought it might be, she acted like it was hurting her. I should have known." She moved slightly as Ha'ri could close the door.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Yinari asked as they both climbed into the front seat.

Hatori shook his head, "I'm not sure 'Nari. I'm afraid that this unstable state of mind might simply something she'll have to adapt to living with, and us as well."

* * *

Dark, yes? And now we know a little more about Sam's past and what happened to her. However more, and possibly all, will be disclosed in the next chapter. You'll just have to wait I'm afraid.

Once again I apologize for how long all of you had to wait to be able to read this chapter. And for the few of you, if any of you, who continued to stick with me all this time... I am eternally thankful.

I don't have much else to say, I'm afraid so I'll leave you now.

Once again, feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Til next time! (I promise it won't be as long!)

-mijichan


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